


Between Two Worlds

by lionheartsoul



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Angst, Destiny, Fate, Folklore, Human Realm, Lost history, M/M, Magic, Mythology - Freeform, Soulmates, Spirits, Strangers to Lovers, Supernatural Elements, parallel worlds, past war between humanity and spirits, seeking for revenge, spirit realm, supernatural powers, warriors - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-18
Updated: 2019-01-19
Packaged: 2019-08-25 04:21:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 25,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16654171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lionheartsoul/pseuds/lionheartsoul
Summary: There are always choices to be made. Each choice has consequences. When the time comes, they both have to make a choice and for that choice, they have to be courageous. Forgive or avenge, kill or be killed. Because for a happy ending, they need to be willing to let go for the one they love.





	1. Will you catch me if I fall?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello to anyone that will be interested enough to read this. Firstly, my english are not that good as it isn't my first language. This is the second work I am posting here and to be frank, this one and the Sinister Kids had some same concepts about where the story would end. But I think this is the story that will have an ending as it is a story I have more inspiration for. I had tried re-writing Sinister Kids twice now and both times I got stuck, not knowing where to go with the story. I hope that this turns out differently. I am mostly writing this for me, as I promised myself that I wanted to have a finished fic about the Jeanmarco ship. I don't think I will be updating it every week, so there might be periods of drought for this because of university keeping me busy. For anyone intersted, I have a pininterest where I will try to make boards in which I will try to give you a clearer view of how i am imagining the world of this fic to be like since I am not that good at writing scenery and describing clothing, towns, etc. Have fun and see you in the next update.
> 
> [Check out these fancy boards](https://pin.it/heqsocr43psbxa)

The alarm rang on time, just like it did every day and Marco Bodt responded with a groan, which was not like Marco to do so. Usually Marco had no problem getting out of bed and proceeding with his daily routine of taking a cold shower to wake up for good, washing his teeth, making breakfast, calling his little sister to keep her company as she walked to school, cleaning the house and setting off to work. He was a morning person. But that was not the case today. This morning found Marco sleep deprived as for the past two days, he had slept four hours in total, explaining why he hardly had the energy to keep up with his routine and schedule.

The second round of the alarm rang and Marco groaned even louder and slowly sat up. He warped himself up with the sheets and enjoyed for a few more minutes the warmth of them. That was until he noticed what time it was.

“Fuck!” Marco jumped off his bed, a move that send shivers down his spine as the cold of the room contrasted the heat he was wrapped in seconds before. Tripping on his way to the bathroom, he heard his roommate mock his choice of words from the living room.

“Marco! Did you just curse?!” after faking a shocked voice, a short giggle followed as apparently Reiner Braun was trying to hold himself back.

Reiner Braun and Marco had known each other almost all their lives. They grew up together, went to school together and now they had ended up living together in order to save up. That was the case for Marco though. Reiner was a surgeon and the money he got from his job were good, which made Marco believe that Reiner either didn’t move out because Reiner felt obligated to help Marco balance his finances as his friend or that Reiner didn’t like living alone and he wanted the company of someone in his life. There was always someone around Reiner for as long as Marco could remember and the moments where Reiner had to live alone could be counted on one hand.

“Reiner, it’s nine o’clock! Why didn’t you wake me up?!” The shower had to be skipped, he reached for his toothbrush and started washing his teeth as he was roaming around his room in search of what to wear for today’s expedition.

“Oh, do forgive me for looking out for you”, it sounded like Reiner was eating something while he talked which placed him in the kitchen, but Marco didn’t have time to focus on Reiner. He only hoped that Reiner would clean whatever mess he was creating afterwards.

“I know you meant well, but I can’t afford to be late” Running out of time, Marco decided to pick up whatever clothes were lying around in the room. Thus, he ended up wearing a light washed pair of jeans, a plain pink-fuchsia sukajan with yellow strips across the arms and a white pair of shoes with black stripes. He returned to the bathroom to wash off the toothpaste from his mouth and run out of his room.

“Bullshit, you’re good at what you do. Besides, better late than passing out on the site of the expedition” Reiner was washing the dishes in his boxers and only an open white shower robe protecting him from the cold. Not that it seemed to bother him. It wasn’t something new. Reiner’s body seemed to not understand the concept of cold.

“Your bag and camera are on the couch. Oh, and call your sister after you arrive” Reiner said. He had prepared Marco’s backpack and camera bag, along with a paper lunch bag. Marco nodded as he wore the backpack first and the camera bag afterwards, holding his lunch on the one hand.

“I will, I will. Thanks and don’t wait for me, I might have to sleep there tonight. Bye Reiner” and he opened the door of the apartment to walk outside.

“Don’t overwork yourself”

“I won’t doc” and Marco stepped outside, the door closing behind him.

“Hey, Marco-” but he was already gone when Reiner opened the front door, looking at the empty hallway of their floor. Reiner sighed and closed the door again.

“Let’s hope no one will call the cops on him with that crazy bed hair” He took a bite of the sandwich he was holding and walked towards his room. “Now, where the hell did I leave my clothes?”

_______________

Marco was riding a black Honda Rebel 300 on his way to work, his father’s gift for finishing university and getting his first job almost immediately after. Marco was an archeologist and an anthropologist, a job both his parents did. Specifically, his mother was an Anthropologist and his father an archeologist.

Marco’s first job was to continue his parents’ life work of unraveling the mysteries of the town called Jinae, a little town up in the mountains, a one-hour trip away from Stohess, which also happened to be the town where Marco was born. He had spent the first ten years of his life in Jinae, homeschooled by his parents, until they decided that Marco should be around children of his age. Not a decision little Marco was excited about, because Jinae for him had been the best place in the world that combined freedom, fun and adventure. Jinae was surrounded by tall mountains and thick forest areas and that meant Marco was never home. He was constantly outside, searching for the heroes of the stories and the legends his parents were researching. He was also trying to lure out the spirits the townspeople were always talking about, in order to draw them in his little journal he had gotten for his birthday. But that had made his parents worry that Marco would get too caught up in stories that people had made up in order to explain what they couldn’t understand. Because, according to Marco’s parents, that’s all that Jinae’s mythology was. Each story they were hunting down was a means to keep the human fear of the unknown at bay. In the end that was their job. To study the stories and figure out why the people of past times had the need to create those myths. What purpose did they serve? The old question Marco listened over and over from his father. Unfortunately, at the time Marco had his 10th birthday, there wasn’t any new material his parents could work with, so their job had reached its end. Back then, it had seemed like the end for Marco’s life but fortunately, now he could say it wasn’t all bad. He met lots of new people, he met Reiner and he got the chance to study Archeology like he always wanted. Thus, Marco was on his way to Jinae, his old hometown.

_______________

“Man, I can’t believe that you actually were worried over being late. Hanji wouldn’t had even noticed if you hadn’t gone rumbling on how sorry you were” Thomas Wagner said as he held a big tourist map of the area in front of him, trying to find the way back to their campsite.

“I don’t think she was actually listening to me so it’s like it never happened” Marco had been thirty minutes late and he felt obligated to apologize to his supervisor which also one of his former university teachers, Hanji Zoe. Sure, Hanji would not have noticed his absence. She barely even recognized his existence as he was apologizing. Instead, her attention was utterly absorbed by a pile of books and notes from the site Marco and his team were to photograph for today. There had been a big breakthrough in Jinae the past week, as an underground city was discovered by accident by a mountaineer who stumbled across an unrecorded cave. Curiosity overtook him and he decided to look inside. As he waked ahead in the dark, with only a flashlight in his hands, he stumbled and fell in a hole that lead him to the entrance of an old city. The sight was breathtaking. Marco had seen it himself and he could hardly contain his excitement. Almost all the buildings that consisted the city were intact, with very few being damage due to the passing of time. His fellow colleagues had estimated that this city went back up to 2000 years. It surely did not look like 2000 years had gone by for this city. It was as if it had been abandoned for a year. Tall and short buildings of a medieval era structure stood above Marco as he walked the alleyways, looking around and taking as many shots as he could with his photograph. Some of the buildings were connected with what seemed like a corridor that was elevating above the alleyways. There also were lots of canals throughout the city from the reports he had briefly looked, filled with water that ended up in a river to the other side of the city. What made this city even more interesting was that, its architecture was more like it came out of an epic fantasy book, like a scenery from Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive coming to life. This must have been a rich city too, judging by the inside of the houses he had visited. Marco wouldn’t be surprised if in time they found an extravagant palace somewhere among these buildings. Moreover, they had located the city’s library that was filled with books, reports, maps, notes and all kinds of knowledge you could imagine. The only problem, it was written in a language no one had ever seen before. It will take a long time deciphering it and eventually translating it. Marco was certain it wouldn’t happen in his lifespan. So, despite the breakthrough of the discovery of the city, they couldn’t learn as much as they would want for the civilization that once lived here.

“What’s with the souvenir jacket though Marco?” Thomas said as he pointed at Marco’s pink-fuchsia sukajan.

“Uh, actually, the correct word is Sukajan and as I said before, I was in a hurry and wore whatever I found in front of me”

“Su- what? Nah dude, that’s a souvenir jacket. My grandpa wore one, so I know what I am talking about” Marco sighed and let it drop. There was no point arguing about this.

“You’re right Thomas”

He let Thomas and the rest of the scouting team walk ahead as he stayed a few meters back to enjoy the scenery. Night had fallen and the night sky was as clear as day. The stars shone brightly above him and there were so many of them, that Marco always himself lost in them. It wasn’t everyday you got to see the night sky, especially not in the Stohess. It had been some time since he had last done this. At some point he had stopped walking, closing his eyes and taking in the music of the forest. Small sounds that would scare everyone else made Marco calm and feel like home. This was familiar, this was a trip back to his childhood. Home. He felt like he was finally home.

A minute passed by and to his surprise, Marco realized that he could hear the forest, but he did not hear Thomas. He opened his eyes and saw that he was left behind, no sight of the rest anywhere. He sighed and walked ahead. He did remember the way. It wasn’t that hard to find when you were familiar with the area like Marco was.

As he walked though, the peaceful atmosphere of the night slowly turned into something else. Marco began feeling nervous and anxious, his gut telling him that something was wrong. What was this sensation? Was there someone here with him after all? Could that be possible? No, this area was closed off to keep out unwanted attention. And yet, why was Marco feeling like someone was watching him? He picked up his pace, walking faster towards the campsite. Even if the campsite was a little far away, Thomas and the others couldn’t be that far away. But as he kept walking, he thought he heard steps from his right. He slowly turned his head, expecting to find nothing but tricks that his mind was playing due to his anxiety levels rising. To his surprise, there was someone there and that someone seemed to be hurt. Marco couldn’t see him clearly, there was only a black figure in the distance that was limping and holding his arm. Judging by his physique, it must have been a guy

“Hello? Are you alright? Do you need help?” Marco shouted but he didn’t get a response. _They can’t hear me_. _What do I do?_

He could go back to camp and inform the paramedics about what he had saw and let them take over. That is, if whoever that was, had the time to wait for Marco to go and return. _If he is seriously injured, it would be better to have someone help._ He couldn’t leave him. If something happened to that person while Marco wasted time, Marco would not be able to forgive himself. So, he decided to go and help and call the paramedics on his phone instead of walking back and waiting. He made the call and walked towards where the black figure had gone.

After a ten-minute walk, Marco could not locate the man anywhere. He had reached the end of the forest and the only road left to take was the road ahead that lead to a clearing. Once he was out of the forest, he saw the man standing in front of him, his back to Marco and looking down at the edge of cliff at the end of the clearing.

“A-Are you okay?” Marco asked as he slowly walked towards the man. The man was shorter than Marco, silky black hair and wore a cloak that hid his body.

“I am running out of time” the stranger said as he kept looking down at the cliff. Marco slowly walked towards him, reaching him with a steady step and managing to stand next to him looking down at the cliff as well. The height of it was terrifying and even more terrifying was the thought of how many must have came here to end their life. Just as the man Marco had next to him. Now he could see his face and the pale tone on his skin appeared almost white because of the moon that stood up in the night sky. The scariest part was his eyes. They seemed lost, as if they were seeing something that Marco couldn’t see.

“Out of time for what?” Marco asked and the man turned to look at him dead in the eyes. Marco saw him smile softly, his eyes filled with pain and sorrow. _Just what did he go through?_ “I know it’s not much help, but if there is something you need to talk about, I could listen- “

“I do hope he was right, because we are running out of time” The other shook his head and turned his body so that he was facing Marco. They were both standing near the edge of the cliff and at that moment the wind picked up, rustling the leaves of the nearby trees and playing with Marco’s and the stranger’s clothes and hair. Marco’s heart was beating hard. This wasn’t right. He had to get out of there. He had a bad feeling about this.

“I-I don’t understand” the stranger got closer to Marco and for a moment Marco could swear he could see hope in the other’s eyes.

“Save us Bodt, you’re our last hope” Marco’s eyes widened.

“How do you know my-”

But it was too late. All of it happened so fast. One moment Marco was standing on the cliff and the next he was falling, gravity claiming what was rightfully hers. The stranger had pushed him off. It had actually happened but why did it seem like a dream? The stranger was slowly fading away, getting smaller and smaller as Marco fell. Marco remembered a conversation he had has with Reiner about what could happened when you knew you were dying. They had talked for hours, analyzing all kinds of theories, of how your whole life plays in your head, of how scary it can get knowing that you are all alone facing death or whether you have time to feel pain as you die or not. But none of those things came to Marco’s mind. He saw his tears following him from above as the fell and the only thing he could think was all the pain he would cause to his loved ones. Reiner would be devastated. Who would he rely on to get over this? And his parents? His sister? Marie was only 10. She was not going to be able to get over this. And what about him? Twenty-five years old and he was going to die. He would dissaprear from everyone’s life just like his brother, just like Ezra. His family would go through the same grieve for a second time. This was all too much. But he could do nothing. Marco closed his eyes and waited for his death to come.

_______________

 

“I will ask one more time. Dirtyhands, he is alive, isn’t he?”

It was a simple question really and Jean Kirschtein couldn’t see what there was to think about for such a simple question. Especially when he had such strong and logical arguments to convince this lowlife thug. A sword pointed at your heart was such a good argument point. If he wasn’t losing his patience, he would challenge him to find a better argument for motivating a person than the motivation of the fear death creates. The thug was still not talking though. _It is a fucking simple question…_

“The longer you remain quiet, the longer you’ll suffer” with a swift move from Jean, the thin sword elegantly moved upwards to the thug’s face and cut him across from his cheek, to his eye to his forehead, blood splashing out and the thug screaming. Jean was smart to tie the thug up. If he had his hands free, he would have touched the wound and God know what kinds of infection he would cause to his eye.

“I-I won’t talk” the thug said as he began crying and shaking from the pain. Jean shook his head. It was such a nice bright day. They sky was blue, no cloud anywhere near, a soft cold breeze playing with your hair. The perfect day for something nice to happen for a change. Jean kicked the thug causing him to fall on his back and Jean sat on the edge of the bridge in order to recollect himself and think of a plan. How could he torture this poor fellow in order to make him talk? He closed his eyes and for a moment, enjoyed the peaceful day and the sounds of the river running underneath the stone bridge. This way he would be able to empty his mind and think. But that proved to be more difficult than he anticipated. Not that he found it strange. He did have a man shouting out of agony in front of him.

“This could have been a lot easier if you weren’t such a stubborn ass-”

But before he could finish his sentence, he was surprised by a sight one did not see every day. From a few meters in front of him and diagonally up, a soft flash made him close his eyes and immediately after, the body of a guy appeared out of thin air, falling straight on Jean, the momentum of the fall causing Jean to follow the flying body’s course and fall off the bridge and towards the fast-flowing river. Jean was caught by surprise, he lost his concertation and the sword and the thug’s bounds vanished in thin air, white particles appearing in their place. Jean was furious. More so because he saw the thug laughing wickedly and mockingly at him. This was this stranger’s fault. Now the thug would be long gone by the time Jean finds a way to get out of this river and kill the unknown guy that cost him a week’s worth stalking and planning. But as they were approaching the river, Jean turned the stranger around to see his face and memorize it in the scenario of him escaping through the river. But the sight he got was not at all what he was expecting. A pair of dark brown eyes, red from crying, on a freckled face looking at him with a shocked expression. But that was not what made Jean’s eyes widen in surprise. He had seen this face in a dream once. And then, they fell on the cold water.


	2. Will you hold me when I'm scared?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second chapter wrote itself a lot sooner than I anticipated. This is just a warning, don't get used to these quick updates. University work is killing me and I hope I'll stop procastinating my work for that.

Jean and the stranger fell inside of the impetuous river. There was no time to lose. Jean had to come up with a plan that would save both of them, in the shortest amount of time that was possible. If he failed to do so, they could both die soon from hypothermia.

Unfortunately for him, the freckled surprise was ten meters ahead and as the seconds pasted, he got further and further away. He noticed that freckles was struggling to stay above water and was shouting for help. The look on the other’s face was not a good sign. The temperature of the river was slowly consuming their heat and if by the time it was done freckles gave in and lost consciousness, it was game over. Jean was not as indifferent as most people believed. He might be cruel and ruthless with those that deserve it but, he was not fond of letting innocent people die.

He swam towards the other with all the strength he could gather and soon enough he was floating next to him, grabbing him by his waist and keeping him close with one hand. If he remembered correctly, they would fall from a waterfall in one minute.

“Hold on me tight and do not let go!” Jean said as he prepared himself for the fall.

“What? Why?!” But as soon as Freckles let those worlds out, he saw the waterfall and clung on to Jean as tightly as he could. Jean smirked slightly and kept the other close to his body. Once they reached the end and began to fall towards the rocks bellow them, Jean extended his free hand next to him and muttered to himself. A few seconds later, a rope appeared in his hand. He swung his arm towards a tree above them, right from the edge of the waterfall. The roped wrapped itself around the closest branch of the tree and their fall ceased abruptly. Jean felt the other’s arms tighten even more around him.

 _One problem solved,_ thought Jean as he looked up at the tree, _one more to go,_ and he looked at the rocks bellow them. _We will have to climb upwards._ But he knew it was a thought Freckles would not like. Jean could feel Freckle’s trembles and he realized that freckles was running out of time.

“You need to climb up the rope”

“I-I don’t think I-I can” the other replied and Jean noticed that he was struggling to keep his eyes open.

“It’s either that or dying right here and now. Choose.”

Freckles laughed and shook his head and Jean could now feel his touch loosen up. “O-oh wow! S-Such a g-great way of e-encouraging people”

“Did you just use fucking sarcasm with me you-”

The branch above them gave out and they both began falling once more. _Fuck my life. How much worse than this can this day go?!_

And it went. Freckles lost conciseness as they fell and Jean could feel his panic rising. He warped both of his arms around Freckles and made sure that when they reached the bottom, he would be the one to fall on his back. And with that, they disappeared inside the water one more time.

 

_______________

“Don’t you even think about dying on me prick!”

Whose voice was that? What was going on? Did he die? He was certain that he had died at some point. But, if he was already dead, why was he still cold? Marco didn’t like this. He believed that being dead meant feeling nothing. Why was it so cold in here?

“Your death is my exclusive privilege! Hey! Don’t play dead with me asshole! Wake up!”

There it was again that voice. Marco couldn’t recall any story about getting yelled at in the afterlife for dying. Why were things still complicated even after death?

At times the void he had woken up in was disturbed by random sensations.

The first time he saw a man standing above him. He had sandy blond hair and hazel eyes, mouthing words Marco could not understand.

The second image was the back of a neck and ahead a path of a forest. It seemed like he was being carried somewhere by the same person of the first image.

The third time there was only sound, the same voice that had yelled at him before, mumbling to himself. “You can do this Jean! It’s not that far. You are almost there! Think of the food that you deserve after the day you had. Think of the hot bath you are going to take once you reach your lovely, cozy home with that annoying roommate that will not stop reminding you of how much of an idiot you are”.

The fourth time he felt a touch on his forehead and gradually the cold withdrawing from his body, a warmth he craved so much, taking over its place.

Those four things were what Marco could remember the moment he woke up in a room he could not recognize. He sat up slowly, looking around, confused and lost. First, he checked his pulse to confirm that he was indeed alive and not dead. _Heart beating just fine._ He let out a sigh of relief and fell back on the bed, laying there and looking at the white ceiling of the room.

“What is going on?!”

 _Think Marco! You were coming back from the expedition site in Jinae. Then, you saw a man that was hurt. You followed him to make sure he was okay. Then…_ Marco sat up abruptly, his eyes wide. _T-Then he pushed you off a cliff… A fucking cliff!_ He ran a hand through his messy bed hair and began biting his nails. _You were falling and you had convinced yourself that that was the end. You should have died. But then…_ He stood up, his nerves taking over his body and he began pacing around the unknown room. _T-Then somehow you fell on the guy with the sandy hair and the hazel eyes and you both fell in a river that was so cold you were convinced you were going to die a second time!_ He was pulling his hair as he stopped in front of the room’s door and hit his head on it softly.

He remembered everything now, but he wished he hadn’t. It didn’t make any sense. How could such a thing be possible? Where was he and why had he ended up here? What was here and who was that guy that Marco was certain had mentioned something about killing him.

“What the hell is going on?!”

He remained like that for a few more minutes, closing his eyes and taking in deep breaths, all the while he reminded himself that keeping a cool head would be in his best interest. _There’s no point panicking about this. There has to be an answer. Maybe, the guy that brought you here knows. Yes. That’s it! He must have some answers._ That was when he heard it. Voices coming from outside of the room. _Should I go and see?_ What else could he do? Staying locked up in a room wouldn’t give him the answers he wanted. He could think all kinds of possible scenarios, but none would give him a solution to his problem. The answer was out there. Marco took another deep breath and stepped out of the room.

For the first time since he woke up, he began noticing and taking in his surroundings. The architecture of this building was strange. It was not like anything he had seen before, surely not a structure of a modern city building. _It is more like…Jinae’s underground city!_ His eyes widened. Why hadn’t he noticed it before? The elegant corridor, the wood carvings of the ceiling where you could clearly see the drawings and their depictions. A dark blue background with golden lines forming up a story of some myth, Marco presumed. _Fascinating._ None of them were ruined by the passing of time, they were here, decorating a home in which somebody actually lived.

Marco’s fear turned into excitement and for a moment he forgot who he was and all of his unanswered questions. Marco suppressed his need to leave his thoughts behind and instead grab a notebook to start writing down anything he thought was important. Instead, he pushed forward, trying to pinpoint the location from where the voices were coming from. It wasn’t that hard. The room he was in was located at the end of a long corridor with one other room next to it. Marco walked at the end of the corridor and turned right around the corner, seeing that he was on the first floor, a staircase ahead of him leading to the ground floor. The voices were clearer now. Marco looked down from the railings of the first floor and saw two people that were arguing. One of them was the man that had saved his life.

“You are going to get yourself and those around you killed Jean! Stop with all this nonsense!” said a short guy with a shaved head. He was wearing a pair of black jeans and a red t-shirt topped of with a black leather jacket.

“No one asked you to tag along, you just went and did it on your own! You made a decision, so either stick to it or get the hell out of my fucking life”, replied Marco’s savior whose name apparently was Jean. _Jean, that’s a nice name._

Jean was wearing a white shirt and a pair of simple jeans with two cuts on each knee. Around his waist he wore a black sweater with a red hoodie from what Marco could tell and it made him wonder. The house had been of another era and he expected the people living here to be of an old era as well. It had been one of his theories, that he had traveled back in time, even if he still thought it was impossible. But seeing now how those two dressed just like any normal person of the 20th century, Marco was relieved. He might still be able to go home.

Marco was watching them from above as they had both stopped talking and simply looked at each other, Jean’s face was heard to read but Marco could tell that he was trying to hold back his feelings. _Why is he being so harsh?_ He couldn’t walk towards them and ask them what was going on. Not when the air between them was intense and hostile. At least from the shorter guy’s point of view. Marco saw him clenching his fists and lowering his gaze as he struggled to control his anger. _This is not going to end well._

“Say that one more time Jean, I fucking dare you to say it one more fucking time”

Jean run a hand though his hair and crossed his arms as he looked at the other dead serious. “If you don’t like what I am doing, you might as well get the hell out of here Connie Springer. I don’t fucking need you”

That was the last straw.

Connie dashed forward, throwing a punch at Jean which found its target. Jean seemed to hold back and not dodge Connie’s attacks. The Connie guy had cornered Jean, punching him again and again and Jean let it happen until he found an opening and head-butted Connie, causing him to distance himself and let room for Jean to make the next move. They were both bleeding out of their noses and if nobody stopped them, they seemed like they would kill each other.

“Hey! Stop this you two” Marco shouted from above, but they didn’t pay any attention to him. Jean leaped forward throwing punches at Connie as Connie dodged with grace. When it was Connie’s turn, Jean now seemed to dodge as elegantly as Connie had. It was clear that Jean was holding himself back, not fighting Connie seriously and Connie could tell, which made him even more furious.

Marco sighed and walked down the stairs. If they wouldn’t listen, he would make them listen. By the time he reached the end of the stairs, Marco saw Jean getting a punch through that send Connie to the ground. _They are being ridiculous._

Jean was so warped up in his conflict with Connie that he didn’t notice Marco approaching. Marco warped his hands around Jean’s neck, catching his head in a head lock and then he slid one of his legs under Jean’s causing him to lose his balance and fall. As Jean fell, Marco let him out of the head lock and quickly fell on top of him, pressing his whole weight against Jean, managing to catch Jean’s hands in time above his hand and keep him in position. He could tell that Jean was surprised to be caught off guard like this and he did not like it. Jean was struggling to get out of Marco’s hold, but Marco wouldn’t let him. Not until they both calmed down.

“This ends now. You both have mouths. Talk it out” said Marco and felt Jean’s struggles decrease and eventually stop. In return, he got a calm Jean that was looking Marco straight in his eyes. It was uncomfortable, he would admit that. Being this close to a stranger wasn’t a thing Marco was used to.

When Marco heard Connie getting up from behind them, he turned to look at him. Connie was bleeding from both his nose and his mouth whereas Jean was only bleeding from his nose. He looked at Marco as if he was apologizing about the situation they had brought upon him and then without saying anything, he walked out of the house, banging the door behind him.

Marco let out a sigh. It wasn’t the outcome he had expected, but it was better than punching their problems out of each other. When he turned his gaze to Jean, he was startled to see Jean inches away from his face. But that was nothing compared with what followed. Jean closed the distance between them as he leaned in and kissed Marco. Marco’s eyes widened, his cheeks flushed red, losing his previous resolve to restrain Jean. A second later he understood why Jean had done that. The surprise of the kiss lead Marco to loosen up his grip of Jean’s hands and that in result gave Jean the opportunity to alter their positions and flip Marco over, pinning him down underneath him this time.

“Good morning to you too” Jean was smirking, lurking above Marco, leaning in once more, their faces too close.

“Let me go” Marco’s cheeks were still red and he struggled to get out of Jean’s grip, a task he realized would be impossible.

“You do have guts attacking me in my own house, I’ll give you that”

“I did try talking first but you two weren’t listening. Now, get off of me”

“Or else?”

“Or else we will stay like this for the rest of the day. I actually am pretty comfortable. I don’t know about you”

Jean rolled his eyes and let Marco go, standing up and walking towards what Marco saw now that was the kitchen. The kitchen was behind the staircase and directly under the second corridor Marco had been to. Marco stood up after a while and followed Jean to the kitchen. He did have some questions he wanted answers to. But before he could talk, Jean was the first one to voice his thoughts.

“I do have one question that has been bugging me for the past three days that you were asleep” Jean had picked up a handkerchief to wipe up his nose, but the blood would not stop coming out. “Who the hell are you? We couldn’t find any information on you. No one seems to know you. Not here, not in the capital. It is like you are a ghost”

“T-Three days? I have been asleep for three days?!” Marco run a hand through his hair and he sat on one of the stools that were in front of him, by the marbled table of the kitchen.

“Well, okay almost three days. Or better, most of the time you were here you were sleeping. When you did wake up at occasions, you were talking rubbish about a Reiner and a Marie. Sometimes you said the name Ezra. But I doubt you can remember those moments. You had a fever for the first two days, it was all fever talk” Jean cursed underneath his breath, taking whatever he could find to keep up with the bleeding. “Damn it Connie…”

Marco was shaken up. He had forgotten about them. Reiner, Marie, his parents. They would be devastated. Marco would be reported missing and they would think that they had lost another son. Marie would be left without a brother and Reiner would shut everyone out of his life. He had to go back.

“I-I need to go back. I am not from here. T-They can’t go t-through that again. I-I can’t let them go through that a-again. I-It’s m-my f-fault I-I-” Marco could not breath. It had been such a long time since he last had a panic attack. Why did he have to go through one now? He was thinking about Ezra and about how he had felt at that time when he was fifteen and his parents told him that Ezra was gone. That was when he had his first panic attack and it took him a while to get over those. _Not again. I can’t be like this now… I don’t have the time to be like this now. Stop it Marco. Stop thinking about Ezra…_ Marco had stood up from the stool, found the closest wall and slid down, holding his head in his hands. But it wasn’t working. He still couldn’t breathe.

“Hey, look at me”

It was Jean. He was kneeling in front of him, softly removing Marco’s hands from his head and holding them in his. Marco was surprised to see him being nice for a change. All this time he hadn’t exactly shown his best side.

“Follow my lead, okay?” and Jean started taking deep breaths, holding them in for a second and then letting the air out. At the same time, he was stroking his thumbs over Marco’s hands in an attempt to relax him further. It worked. Marco was steadily finding his breaths again. Mimicking Jean’s behavior for a few minutes, along with the comfort of the other’s touch, Marco calmed himself down. He could breathe again but that didn’t make him any less stressed.

“My name is Marco Bodt”

“And I am Jean Kirschtein. We did start off wrong. This is a better way, don’t you think, Freckles?”

Marco found himself chuckling. “Freckles?”

“We had to give you some sort of name. Made communication in the house easier. For example, hey Connie! Freckles is snoring again”

Marco laughed softly and stood up with Jean’s help.

“You were trying to push him away, weren’t you? Connie? Am I pronouncing it right?”

Jean let out a sigh. “He got in this mess because of me and no matter how many times I tell him that it’s not his fight, he never listens. I had to get creative”

“And what mess did you drag him in?”

Jean laughed and walked in a room next to the living room. When he got out, he tossed Marco a pair of clothes, his clothes. His fuchsia Sukajan and his jeans. “We should settle your mess first, don’t you agree? Mine is a little bit harder. Get dressed. We are going to town”

“To town?”

“Yes. Welcome to Sina Marco, the land of the spirits”

 

_______________

 

Marco’s expression when he realized what Jean was talking about, amused Jean deeply. After the wide eyes and the five-minute pause for the realization to kick in, came the denial stage. At first Marco couldn’t stop laughing, letting Jean know how ridiculous he sounded. _That can’t be the case_ , Marco had said to him.

Jean being Jean, decided it would be best if he just showed him what he meant. He called out his familiar, a black cat named Salem and asked him to reveal to Marco his true form. After a strong swirling white smoke appeared around Salem, he changed from a cat to a black panther, omitting a soft white-green light for a few seconds. Jean then proceeded to ask Salem to change into the form of Jean’s sword, which Salem did, after expressing his annoyance in being demonstrated around like he was some sort of a toy. For the whole demonstration Marco had watched silently with wide eyes. The finishing blow must have been Salem being able to talk as Marco froze and did not speak for as long as Salem was in the room with them. Seeing a panther and a cat talk was not exactly something you saw everyday in the lifespan of a human. Because Jean had figured out that Marco was a Leaper, despite Marco not knowing yet what that meant.

How long had it been since a Leaper last appeared? Probably ten years, since the arrival of that hideous man. Marco didn’t seem dangerous but neither had Dirtyhands when he first arrived. Jean would not judge Marco beforehand. He would give him a chance first. And in the first signs of corruption, he promised himself he would not let another murderer loose in these lands. He would make sure Marco’s life came to an end, even if he wished it would not end up like that. Marco seemed nice and Jean liked it him. An achievement for Marco considering how Jean rarely admitted liking another person.

After Marco managed to swallow it all that was presented to him, Jean gave him his time to completely accept it. They needed twenty minutes to reach Trost, so he had enough time to process the new information. Trost was the town Jean was forced to take shelter in from his enemies. It was the only place he and Connie were certain no one would look for them. They needed to keep a low profile until things calmed down in the Capital. After that, Jean would need a plan if he wanted to comfort Dirtyhands. Even the thought of him made Jean clench his fists and be filled with anger and disgust. It was all his fault that his life had gone so wrong. He couldn’t wait to get his hands on him and pierce his sword through Dirtyhand’s heart. Jean was certain that that would be so satisfactory.

After ten minutes of walking, Marco decided to break the silence and tell Jean everything that had happened up until now. As he heard the story, Jean’s theory changed. Marco was not a leaper, but he definitely was human. That explained the smell he was omitting. At least now, Jean would not have to consider killing Marco in cold blood. It was though work of a Leaper in the end.

When he told Marco, he didn’t seem to recall any stories involving Leapers in the few books that were written about Sina, the land of the spirits. Jean wasn’t surprised by that. Their kind made sure to keep the Leaper’s existent from their fellow humans hidden in order to prevent exploitation of their powers.

When Marco asked Jean if he knew anything, he was reluctant to answer at first. But something in Marco made Jean trust him. He couldn’t explain it but there seemed to be a connection between them. A bond that had formed a long time ago that Jean could not explain.

“Well, Leapers are basically human’s with kind of supernatural powers. A Leaper can open a gate between the Spirit realm and the Human Realm. But, he can only do it from the Human realm” Jean explained and Marco’s face dropped, his excitement vanishing.

“That means… I can’t go back?”

Jean smiled faintly. “There is a way-”

Marco perked up, looking at Jean with hope. _Let a person finish talking before getting all excited…_ Jean let out a sigh. “but, in order for a gate to open from the Spirit Realm, you need to find a Drifter”

“A Drifter?” Marco asked, confused, the word being foreign to him. It seemed that Leapers not only made sure their kind wasn’t known to their fellow humans, they hid the existence of the Drifters as well. Not surprising either when you took into consideration the relationship Jean’s kind had developed with the Leapers.

“Drifters are spirit warriors that humans used to summon to their realm in order to protect humanity from spirits that turned bad to put it simply”

Jean looked over at Marco and saw him thinking to himself. The topic they had picked up seemed to distract him from his worries over what his family must have been going through. Jean was willing to keep him distracted if it meant they could avoid another panic attack.

“How can a spirit turn bad?”

“A spirit in order to survive in the Human Realm, needs to feed off human emotions. Think of human emotions as the calories a human needs to consume in order to survive. And just like there is good and bad quality of food, there are also positive and negative emotions. So, if a spirit keeps on feeding on negative emotions such as anger, sadness, the intent to kill and so on, it gradually turns into what your people call demons. It is trapped in a cycle it can’t break and is in agony. That agony leads it to lash out and cause damage to whoever comes across it. I guess the phrase, you are what you eat, fits perfectly this explanation”

“Yes, but we can choose what we want to eat. Can’t a spirit choose what to eat and avoid getting consumed by the negative emotions?”

“Good question Bodt! The answer to that is that it depends. Let’s take an animal for example. An animal doesn’t have the complex mind humans have, right?”

“Yes”

“Well, the same goes for spirits. We are also divided in categories. We have less intelligent spirits that could be compared to your animals and the more intelligent ones, such as me, that can be compared to you humans. Concluding, if an animal starves, it won’t stop to think the quality of the food it consumes”

Marco said nothing for a few seconds, thinking about what his next question would be. _He sure isn’t letting anything drop._

“Firstly, you are a spirit too? But you look too human to be a spirit”

“Excuse you, you humans aren’t the only ones that can look like this. But I guess I look like you because I am a Drifter and-”

Marco stopped walking and caught Jean by his shirt, pulling him closer.

“What?! You are a what?! And it took you this long to spill it out?! You could be helping me go home”

Jean rolled his eyes and pulled Marco’s hands away. “I won’t get angry with this failed attempt of trying to intimidate me, because I forgot to mention an important part about the Drifters” Jean dusted off his white shirt and continued with his story. “Drifters and Leapers are sort of a pair. Meaning that a Drifter and a Leaper can reach their full potential the moment they meet their other half” Jean paused. This part was always hard to explain and harder to understand if you weren’t a Drifter or a Leaper. “Think of Leapers and Drifters as what you people call soulmates. Every Drifter is compatible with only one Leaper. So, when a Drifter finds his or her Leaper, they are complete. Only then can they open gates between realms. Which, if you think about it, it makes sense. The gates are a way to connect the two worlds. What better way than two people that are deeply connected from the two worlds?”

Jean saw Marco getting ready to shoot another question, but he knew what it was and he answered without waiting for Marco to say it out loud.

“No, I haven’t found my Leaper and that’s why I can’t open a portal for you. Sorry”

Marco sighed. His hopes of getting back home seemed to fade away as the conversation went on. They continued walking ahead, Marco continuing with his questions.

“Is there a way to find your Leaper soon? Is there a kind of ritual you can do or…?”

Jean shook his head. “No. We stopped pairing up with leapers about two-thousand years ago. There used to be a time where the two realms lived in harmony and both humans and spirits could travel between the two realms without any problem. That was how you could find your other half. Both Drifters and Leapers were explorers” Jean’s face lit up. “There were no rules, no one got in their way of travelling around both worlds and discovering new species, stories, people. The journey of self-discovery was everything to us and then one day,” He paused “they took it from us” Jean’s face grew darker. “Humans began having wars with each other and they used the Leaper’s powers in order to win their wars. Drifters fought Drifters, Leapers killed Leapers… It was chaos. So much blood… And as if that wasn’t enough, some humans, corrupted and driven by their need for power, took it a step further. They attacked us. They attacked the Spirit Realm, using none other than our own kind against us. There is a way for a Drifter to be corrupted. If his Leaper loses himself in his hatred, because of their bond, the Drifter loses himself too and a powerful demon is born, following blindly his Leaper’s orders. The Leaper becomes the master and the Drifter the slave. That forced us to close all the open gates between the two realms and since then, no human was allowed in and no spirit out” Which made it weird that Marco was standing here next to him. A human returning to the spirit realm could mean two things. Either war was going to break between the realms again or that hope for the old ways to come back was being born again.  

“That does sound like us… I… I’m sorry Jean. That must have been awful…”

 “It is what it is, I guess. No need to apologize for your ancestors’ mistakes”

“I don’t understand how none of this is known to us though. If such means were used in wars during our history, someone would have managed to record it. All that knowledge couldn’t be forgotten that simply”

“I am guessing that your Seekers made sure to erase any trace of this dark history. They didn’t want to have history repeat itself”

“Seekers? Jean… I think my head starts to hurt with all of this information”

Jean laughed. “I think you call them historians. But back in that time they were called Seekers because they sought out the truth and documented historical events for both worlds. But don’t worry. We will find a way for you to get back home. I promise. Look we’re here”

Jean gestured to the town that revealed itself in front of them, the majestic tall buildings of gold and white. Trost, Connie’s hometown and the town of the scholars.

 

_______________

They spent four hours in the city, Jean showing Marco around while answering every question Marco could think of. Trost was like a big university campus. Everywhere you looked you would see someone running to attend a class, or someone sitting in a park bench reading a book. In the streets you could see musicians play from now and then and not for money. They simply played because they either enjoyed it, or because they wanted to practice. In other areas of the city you could spot science experiments being conducted out in the open and in other areas young and old people playing some sort of sport. It was a city full of life and Marco thought it was a city where Hanji would love to visit. Trost was Hanji’s ideal society. She would definitely thrive in here.

Jean had also told Marco that Trost was the cause of all the technological advantages that he would see in the Spirit Realm. It wasn’t as common here, so Marco hadn’t seen it yet, but Jean told him of how if he ever went to the Capital, he would feel more like home. Even if the passages between the two realms no longer existed, the scientists of Trost had found a way to access the human’s world databases and study their technologies. That resulted in cars being invented in the spirit world, phones, television, electricity and so on. According to Jean though, fortunately, those inventions were only used in the capital, leaving all the other regions of Sina live a more peaceful life.

During their stay in Trost, Jean had left Marco alone, excusing himself by saying that he needed to go find a friend. Marco didn’t believe that that was the case. Jean was hiding something from him and he believed that he was trying to keep him from getting too involved in his mess. Which Marco didn’t think of as fair. He had let Jean in on his mess. Shouldn’t Jean at least let him know of what was going on?

In the time he was left alone, Marco had bought a sketch notebook with the money Jean had given him and he had sat on a nearby park, drawing whatever he laid his eyes on. What fascinated him more though were the types of animal spirits that existed in Trost. It was as if the Japanese mythology came to life right in front of his eyes. Foxes with pointy ears and nine tails, koi fish floating in the air, colorful birds flying above his head. It was a completely different world and he would record every last detail of it.

When Marco finished his fifteenth sketch, Jean showed up. Showed up was an understatement. He thought it was a good idea to show up from behind Marco to scare him. But along with Marco’s high pitch, Jean got in return and a punch in the face, as Marco’s reflexes kicked in. Jean’s nose reopened and on their way home Marco could not stop laughing about it. They had been joking and teasing each other during the whole trip back home.  Marco was enjoying himself and he realized that despite being with Jean for only half a day now, he could really be himself around him. He felt like they had known each other for years and that Jean was like a long-lost childhood friend. He did hope that he wasn’t the only one thinking like that.

Once they reached the house and got inside, they found Connie, sitting on the living room’s couch, waiting for them to return. Apparently, he had prepared an apology dinner. Marco feared for a moment that they would end up fighting again but Jean and Connie simply went on like nothing had happened between them. Connie was constantly teasing Jean and telling embarrassing stories that made Jean’s face turn red. Marco was laughing the whole time and that seemed to make Jean even more embarrassed.

Connie Springer had known Jean for a long time. Their relationship reminded Marco of the relationship he and Reiner had. They had first met each other during the Great War which made them both more than 2000 years old. Jean did explain though that that wasn’t exactly their true age. Time passed differently for spirits than humans. After Jean and Connie argued about what their age would be if they had been humans, they concluded that they would be 26 years old. A year older than Marco. A fact they did not want to let go. Like the 2000-year difference wasn’t enough proof of how was older among the three of them.

As the conversation went on, Marco found out more about Connie. Connie was a practitioner of magic, as he liked to call himself and Jean made sure to correct him every time, reminding him that everyone else referred to his kind as warlocks or witches. Connie would argue back that both of those terms were inaccurate. In his words, _A witch or a warlock in your peasants minds is always connected to dark magic and the turning of spirits to demons. My clan though deals with spells that affect the physical world around us and not messing with a fellow spirit soul,_ and Jean would argue back, _No. That is the human definition of witches. The spirit definition is that of how you guys are big nerds that need to say out loud a poem in order to win a battle. Like my father used to say, your kind are cheaters._ And Connie would roll his eyes and flip the middle finger to Jean and would go on to talk about a topic that had no end. They had been talking for three hours straight and they had decided to call it a night. All three of them said their goodnights and went to their rooms. Marco noticed that Jean’s room was the one next to his.

It didn’t take long for Marco to fall asleep. It had been a long day after all. But Marco had always been a light sleeper. In the middle of the night, he woke up by a heavy panting that seemed to come from Jean’s room. He got up and walked towards Jean’s room. Once he was outside, he could also hear groans coming from inside. He slowly opened the door and walked in.

Jean was having a nightmare it seemed. He was turning around in his sleep and mumbled a few sentences in a language that Marco could not understand. Worried, Marco walked closer, sitting next to Jean and gently rocking him in order to wake him up. Jean’s eyes shot wide open and to Marco’s surprise, Jean jumped on him, pinning Marco under him, a knife pressing against Marco’s neck. Marco was terrified, but he tried to remain calm. Jean was still not awake. He had seen it with Marie before. Jean was in the same state sleepwalkers were in. He must have still been in his nightmare and Marco was the threat. Maybe, if he talked him out of it, Jean would remove the knife from his neck. He felt the sting of it, Jean had cut him slightly and blood was rolling down Marco’s neck. This needed to be dealt with in the calmest way possible.

“I am not here to hurt you”

Jean shook his head. “But I am… Why did you come here?! Why did you betray us?! Why did you make them use me like this?!”

Marco felt Jean’s tears drop down on his face. Those words meant that Jean was relieving the war. The Great War all spirits were forced to participate in. So that meant that Jean saw Marco as the enemy. In Jean’s eyes Marco was a Leaper and he had to die. _Think Marco… What will get him to wake up?_

“I came to tell you that the war is over. The King closed the gates. We are free” Marco managed to remember what Jean had told him about the war. Maybe this way Jean would relax a bit.

“It’s over?” the pressure of the knife against Marco’s neck loosened and Marco realized he had been holding in his breath the whole time.

“Y-Yes… It’s over Jean. We can go home”

 At that moment a loud bang was heard from outside of Jean’s room and both of them looked towards the door. Then there was silence. Nothing followed after that first bang. Jean removed the knife from Marco’s neck and placed a finger on his lips, indicating that Marco was to remain silent at all costs.

Jean had woken up.

Marco nodded and stayed still as he saw Jean walk next to the door, waiting. Now Marco was truly scared. He didn’t know what was going on, but he was certain that whatever it was, it had to do with Jean’s mess that he and Connie had been arguing about.

Jean looked at Marco and mouthed him a few words. _Say that you think they left to me_. Marco’s stomach turned but he nodded. He could trust Jean. He seemed like he knew what to do. He saw him prepare the knife for attacking and Marco feared of what was to come. In the end, he followed Jean’s instructions.

“I-I think we’re fine Jean. They-” then the door opened and a black figure dashed inside going after Marco. But Jean did not let him get close. He held the stranger back and slashed the knife across his neck, blood spilling out, spraying both Jean and Marco.

Marco felt an uncontrollable shake going through his body and he lifted his hands up, seeing a black liquid spread over them. _Is this… blood?!_

“Marco, we don’t have time for you to go through shock. No matter what happens. Do not leave my side! Understand?”

Jean had kneeled in front of Marco who was still sitting on the edge of the bed, hands shaking. “Y-You just killed-”

Jean shook Marco. “Marco! Did you understand me?!”

Marco nodded his head. He didn’t think he could talk in his state. _One step at a time. Don’t leave Jean’s side._ “You’ll be fine. I promise you” Jean smiled at him and took Marco’s hand in his, leading the way and getting him out of the room.

They walked over the corpse of whatever Jean killed and went out on the corridor. Salem appeared next to them in his cat form. “Where is Connie?” Jean said.

Salem sighed and walked ahead. “I don’t know. I heard the noise and came to see if you were dead or not”

Jean sighed as well. “Salem. Whatever happens, Marco’s protection come first. Understood?”

Salem transformed to his panther form and nodded. But Marco wasn’t going to accept it just like that. What if because of this decision Jean got hurt? “Jean no! Salem’s your weapon. He can’t stay with me. You’ll be unarmed”

“I appreciate your concern, but I am armed” He gestured at his knife.

“Jean…” but Jean was having none of it. It did irritate Marco and if they got out of this alive, he would have a few words with him about this.

They walked ahead and once they reached the end of the corridor, Jean motioned for Marco to stay behind. He took a deep breath and he dashed forward and around the corner. Salem stepped in front of Marco to keep him in place. Another gesture that added to Marco’s irritation.

Three slashing sounds were heard and then three different splashing sounds followed, before Jean showed up in front of them his face and white shirt covered in the black blood from the strange figures in cloaks.

“Black is not your color” Marco commended as Jean came back.

“I’ll keep that I mind next time I’m killing home intruders” Jean replied and took Marco’s hand in his again.

“Oh, go get a room you two” Salem added as he was the one walking ahead this time.

“Where are we going?” Marco chose to ignore what Salem had just said and focus on a more urgent matter at hand.

“Connie’s room. Where I hope Connie is safe and sound if we want to get away from this house alive”

Marco’s furrowed his brows. “You are explaining some things to me when we get out of here”

“We have known each other for a day and you already make demands”

Connie’s room was next to the staircase. Only a long corridor and no walls protecting them from any intruders that could be in the living room. Marco was getting more and more anxious as they walked ahead. When they reached Connie’s room, Jean knocked rhythmically to announce their arrival. When the appropriate response came back from inside the room, Jean let out a sigh of relief.

“Everyone get inside. Marco-”

Marco saw Jean’s eyes widen, a terrified expression taking over his face. He couldn’t see the reason for Jean’s reaction, but he thought he could feel it lurking behind him. One of those cloaked figures coming to claim Marco’s life. Marco could feel its intent. Hatred. It was so strong. All that hate and agony, the anger. Was this a spirit gone evil? A demon? Was this the time Marco finally died? No. Jean would not let it happen. He had promised him after all.

Jean pulled Marco towards him and switched their places, the demon’s sword slicing Jean’s back instead of Marco’s. But Jean did not let it distract him. His mind was still focused on Connie’s room. “Connie, do the spell! Now!”

Salem opened Connie’s door and Jean jumped over at Marco causing them to fall inside Connie’s room after Salem. With a kick of his feet he closed the door behind them and pushed his weight on it to keep it closed. Marco stood there for a few minutes, lost before snapping back to reality and following Jean to help him keep the door closed. He saw with the corner of his eyes Connie kneeling in the center of the room, right above a drawn circle. The bed and every furniture that could hide the circle had been tossed aside. As Marco followed the lines of the drawing on the floor, he noticed that it didn’t stop on the circle Connie was kneeling on. They were connected to it and extended to the rest of the room. Lines and strange letters covered all of the walls and ceiling.  The whole room was part of Connie’s spell. Connie muttered words in the language he had heard Jean talk a few minutes earlier in his sleep. His eyes turned white and then every line of the room turned into a glowing green color. Seconds passed, and the room began to shake. Marco saw a swirl of wind warping around Connie.

There was a loud banging on the door and both Marco and Jean pushed with all of their strength to keep it closed. Two minutes passed with the room starting to shake and then silence. The loud bangs on the door vanished and the wind around Connie ceased. The glowing green light faded and Connie’s eyes returned to normal. Salem had remained in the same position the whole time. Two minutes passed and no one dared to make any sound. Fortunately, there was no sound coming from outside either. That must have meant that they were safe.

“Did it work?”

Jean was the first to break the silence.

“Yeah… It…did” and with that Marco saw Connie pass out in the middle of the room.

“C-Connie?!” Marco rushed over to him, checking his pulse. _Heart beating but it is faint._ “Jean, I think there’s something wrong with Connie”

“Y-Yeah? He will…get over it…” Jean let out a soft laugh and then he dropped to the floor too, his breathing becoming short and heavy. A few seconds after Jean’s collapse, Salem’s form returned to that of a cat and Marco noticed that Salem had fallen to the floor as well, his breathing the same as Jean’s.

Marco rushed over to Jean, dragging him away from the door and placing Jean’s head on his lap. Jean was sweating like crazy. Marco rested his hand on Jean’s forehead. It was burning. _Is this even a normal temperature?!_ If Jean wasn’t a spirit, Marco was certain he would have died by now. What was he supposed to do now? What was the plan? Of all the people in this room, he was the only one awake and the last one to know what to do in a situation like this. What was even the situation? What was going to happen to them?

Marco realized he was crying when he saw his tears dropping on Jean’s face. He felt trapped and cornered with no apparent solution to the problem he was facing. And his ignorance would lead to the death of Jean, Salem and Connie. Because Marco had convinced himself that that was the outcome of this situation.

At that moment, the door opened and Marco looked up, holding Jean closer to his body as a way to protect him. Not that it would make much of a difference in the end.

To his surprise, he saw a petit blonde girl enter the room and getting shocked from the sight in front of her.

“Ymir! Get Armin over here right now!”

Then her gaze fell on Marco, who unconsciously had warped both arms around Jean and didn’t let go, his tears rolling down to his cheek uncontrollably.

“I-It’s okay. We will help them. I promise” and Marco believed her. It was her voice. So soothing and calm. A soft voice that almost made him want to forget everything and sleep.

Marco shook his head. _No, she is making me feel calm… She’s… She’s controlling my emotions!_

“Stop it!” that seemed to startle her and she took a step back. The disbelief in her eyes convinced Marco that this was a new concept to her. No one had stopped her before.

Suddenly, a blond man with long hair caught up on a ponytail appeared next to her. The new guy didn’t seem to give Marco much of his attention. He had rushed over to Connie at once, turning him around and placing his hands on top of Connie’s chest. Marco saw him closing his eyes and a soft white glow emerged from his hands. Connie’s breathing seemed more natural now. Whatever he did, it had worked. Then he turned to Jean who only now had Marco realized was moving around in his lap. At first it seemed like the fever was messing with his head but a few seconds later, Jean’s screams filled up the room. When Jean screamed so did Salem. Jean’s back arched and he was turning around, screaming louder and louder for someone to make the pain go away. He screamed and begged for anyone to just step in and kill him, take him out of his misery and each time he screamed and said those words a part of Marco died. He didn’t know why. There was no logical explanation for it, but he thought he could feel a part of Jean’s pain. His heart was hurting and the more he saw him like this, the more intense the pain in his chest got.

“H-help him… Someone please… He is suffering” Marco felt his heart breaking, the pain getting stronger and stronger. He thought this would be the end of him. For yet another time, he thought he was dying. “Stop…make it stop” He was whispering to himself, he couldn’t find the strength to talk louder. That pain. It was unbearable.

“Armin! Do something. We are losing them!” The blonde girl had kneeled next to Jean, holding his head between her arms, trying to do something that caused her pain as well. It was as if she was trying to absorb a part of Jean’s pain to help him. It didn’t seem to work. But Armin went and kneeled in front of Marco instead. He smiled softly and touched Marco’s forehead.

“Everything will be alright” Armin said and then muttered a few words in the language Jean and Connie had used before. And just like that, Marco lost consciousness, Jean’s agonizing screams being the last thing he heard.


	3. Will you miss me when I'm gone?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Helloooooo Everyone that follows this story!!
> 
> I finally got some time to write the new chapter. It took longer than anticipated but I had lots of work lately and just couldn't write as much as I would have wanted to. That unfortunately means updates can't be done regurarly and only whenever I get time to spare. I think I mentioned this somewhere before but in case I haven't, I want you to know that this work is sort of a personal bet I have with myself about managing to finish at least one chaptered fic. So this will be a complete work eventually and you don't need to worry about it not being finished. It'll probably be a long time before that happens though.
> 
> Anyways, I have a tumblr in case you were interested. You can find me here: [Lionheartsoul](https://lionheartsoul.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Pininterest Boards: [Between Two Worlds](https://pin.it/kmjouvuvfzamls)
> 
> Enjoy the new chapter and I hope to see you soon with an update!!

When Marco woke up, he woke up to the sound of raindrops falling. He opened his eyes and looked around at the unfamiliar room he had woken up in, noticing that he had been moved to a couch. _This habit of waking up in stranger’s places needs to stop._

It was different from Connie and Jean’s house. Its architecture seemed more modern, almost like Marco’s own house. For a moment his heart beat faster, thinking about the possibility of having returned back home somehow. _Maybe it was all a dream. It would explain lots of things. Maybe Reiner and I had a blast wasting our selves last night and I dreamed about all of it._ That thought did comfort him. He didn’t want it to be true because if it was, that meant Jean was real and he had been hurt because of Marco. _Please let it be a dream. Let this be a one-night stand at a stranger’s house. Anything but what I remember._

As the seconds passed by though, Marco could feel a distant pain in his chest and that made him doubt his theory. The theory was instantly debunked when Marco saw the blonde girl entering the living room, holding a blanket that Marco figured out was for him. _That means…_

“Jean and Connie!? Are they alright?!” said Marco, wasting no time.

The girl was startled and almost dropped the blanket, caching it midair. “Y-You are awake! Do you want something to eat? I could go and make you breakfast-”

Marco was out of the couch in a second, rushing to the girl and holding her by her shoulders. “Are they alright?! Please, I need to know. If something happened to Jean because of me I-”

“First of all, calm down. They’re both fine” Marco let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding in. “Connie woke up about an hour ago and Jean is still in bed”

“Can I see them?” He knew he had other things to worry about, but he wouldn’t be able to focus on them. Not until he saw for himself that both of them where alright. “Where are they?”

“Well, Connie’s in the kitchen and Jean’s on the third floor but-” Marco didn’t wait for her to finish her sentence. He rushed past her and up the staircase behind him. “Hey! Wait!” she heard the girl shouting after him.

Each staircase lead to a room that was connected to the rest floors via spiral stairs. The first floor was a semi floor that had a corridor with four different doors and the second floor seemed to either be a study room or a really big library. Once he reached the third floor, Marco found two opposing rooms, a red and a green door on each side of a short corridor. Without even thinking, he walked towards the red door, certain that Jean was behind that one. He felt it in his chest. As he got closer, the faint pain got a little stronger by each step. It was bearable, the sensation of a pinch on the arm. Marco held the handle and pushed the door open, walking inside, and towards Jean. He was laying on the bed that was in the center of the room, face down and his whole torso warped up in bandage. A black and red line had formed across his back on the bandages what Marco assumed was the spot where the sword had slashed Jean up.  Jean was unconscious still, breathing softly.

Seconds after Marco had entered the room, the petit blonde girl showed up behind him. She was out of breath and leaned against the entrance of the room, taking a moment to find her breath again. “You are fast…”

Marco didn’t reply. He couldn’t find the right words, he didn’t know what to say. He simply stood there, staring at Jean, clenching his fists. _He is like that because of me…_

He heard her walking towards him and standing next to him. Her presence eased him, made him relax and feel less guilty about Jean. He would be alright. Jean was strong, he had to be. Surely this wasn’t the first time he had ended up in a situation like this. Jean Kirschtein could make it and Marco would not doubt him. He would-

_No! It’s her again. She is doing it again._

“Can you stop doing that, it feels weird”

Marco rubbed the back of his neck feeling uncomfortable. When he turned his head to steal a glimpse of her, he saw her tense up like she had done the first time he caught her controlling his emotions. After the thought of getting caught in the act settled in, Marco saw her furrowing her brows. She was troubled by it. “This hasn’t happened in a while. Jean was the only one that had ever noticed me touching up on his emotions” She paused for a minute and then her eyes widened. “I’ll be right back!” And after that she run out of the room and Marco heard her calling the names Ymir and Armin.   _That is a weird girl._

“Historia weird? Wow. You are the first person to ever call her that”

Marco stood there blinking as he looked at the unconscious body in front of him. Was that Jean’s voice? How was that possible? Jean was not moving a muscle and his mouth did not move. _That’s it Marco… You’ve lost your mind! You are going crazy._

“Noninnocence! I am going to take a wild guess here and say that you lost your mind long before you ended up here, if we assume that you talk to yourself like this all the time”

There it was again. It was Jean’s voice, there was no doubt about that. But if Jean was in front of him and that was not were the voice was coming from, what exactly was going on? At that moment, Marco felt a pair of arms being warped around his neck, locking his head in a head lock. One arm held him in place and the other rubbed his hair hard. It took him a minute to break free from the position he was trapped in, his hair a mess when he managed to succeed. When he looked up, he saw Jean standing in front of him, well and alive, laughing with Marco’s hair. Marco looked from the standing Jean to the unconscious Jean.

“You are here and there…There’s…two of you…I uh…” A minute of silence passed by. “I…. I need to take a moment to process this” Marco found the nearest chair and sat down, rubbing his fingers over his forehead to calm himself down.

“Even I didn’t take it that hard”

Jean sat on the edge of the bed, his other self laying on top of it. “Jean, if there’s something you need to share, now is a good time to do so” Marco pointed out.

Jean crossed him arms and paused for a few seconds before replying. “I do have a theory, but we will get to that later when I have more proof. For now, the simplest explanation I can give you is this. What is laying in the bed is my body and what is talking to you is my soul. Think of it like an astral projection”

“Y-Your soul?! Weren’t you already a spirit?! How is that possible?” He closed his eyes, rubbing his forehead harder. “You know what? Never mind, I don’t wanna know. I just want to go home” said Marco as he sank further down in the chair.

“And I think I might have a solution to that problem”

Marco’s opened his eyes again looking at Jean with caution. He didn’t want to get his hopes up to simply be told that it was a false alarm in the end. _Don’t get all excited Marco. You won’t like the fall afterwards._

“Yes. That is actually a very good advice Bodt! Fun fact that you might have figured out by now, I can hear your thoughts! A great advantage for the job we’re doing today!”

“Yeah, I figured it out. Doesn’t make it any less creepy. And job? You mentioned something about a solution. I would like to talk about that first”

Jean had a response ready which Marco was certain it would be a comment that would tease Marco instead of helping him. But unfortunately for him, they were interrupted by the blond guy from yesterday. “Ah, Marco here you are. Have you eaten yet? I could make you something to eat”

Marco shook his head, politely declining the offer. “I am not hungry but thank you for the offer um…”

The blond smiled and offered his hand. “Armin Arlert. Healer and botanist of the Ravens”

Marco accepted his hand, but he was more confused than before. “Marco Bodt uh, nice to meet you” He gave Jean a glance who seemed to look away from Armin.

Armin followed his gaze and looked at Jean’s body and eventually sighed. “Historia told me that you felt responsible about Jean’s condition”

 _Oh great…_ That was an information Marco would be better off with Jean not finding out. Not in this way at least. Marco looked away, avoiding Jean’s gaze that was following Marco’s every move. Jean seemed to be enjoying this too much.

“I uh… shouldn’t we talk about this somewhere else? Jean is listening”

Armin shook his head smiling softly. “I doubt he will even remember any of this by the time he wakes up. Don’t worry”

Marco furrowed his eyebrows. “But he is-“

Jean cut him off. “Fun fact number two. You are the only one that can see me”

 _Say what now?_ Marco’s eyes widened and he saw Jean trying to hold back his laugh. Not wanting to make the new guy believe he was crazy, he composed himself fast. It wasn’t fast enough though and Marco’s behavior seemed to confuse Armin as he furrowed his eyebrows. _I hate you Jean_.

“No, you don’t” Jean replied.

“His condition was pretty bad” Armin continued, turning on his heels and walked next to Jean’s body. Jean stood right in front of him, but Armin walked right through him like he wasn’t really there. The points were Armin had touched him turned to mist for a few seconds and then reappeared, making Jean whole and solid again. Marco’s eyes widened again. At least he wasn’t the only one. The surprise in Jean’s face was a sight that eased Marco. He wasn’t alone in this.

“We just found out about fun fact number three. Only you can touch me” Jean paused. “Well, that sounded weird, but you know what I mean”

Marco’s life had turned into a big surprise. There wasn’t a single moment of something bizarre not happening. _I will never get used to this._

“You see this black area here? It’s the Reapers’ death mark. A simple scratch by their sword can send you to your grave”

Marco’s heart sank. If that sword had sliced him instead, he would have been dead. Jean had saved him once more. But then, why was Jean still alive? If a scratch could kill a person, a cut like that should have killed Jean and yet, he was alive and well and witty as usual. “Then, why is Jean still alive?”

“Oh wow! Should I had just died? Is that what you’re saying Bodt? I am so hurt right now! Just letting you know” Marco did see the soft smirks on Jean’s face now and then as the conversation with Armin went on. Jean was enjoying this more than necessary. _This isn’t a joke Jean._

“But it is Bodt” Jean said.

 _Stop calling me Bodt,_ Marco thought.

“No can do!” Jean replied.

“Jean had always been strong. Sure, he also is an asshole and an idiot for never listening to anyone’s advices, thinking he is invincible, doing whatever the hell he wants, not even once stopping to think about the consequences, leaving us to clean up his messes” Armin paused to catch up his breath. “But he is extraordinary”

Jean listened to Armin and with each word his mouth opened more, declaring the shock he was going through, not understanding where this outburst was coming from. Marco stopped to think for a second how he could tell what Jean was going through like it was happening to him. _Interesting. Maybe this doesn’t stop only in reading each other’s thoughts. I can feel what Jean is feeling, which means…_ Jean was smirking at him clearly now. Marco’s cheeks turned red and he refused to look at Jean. Having Jean feel what he felt was the last thing he needed right now. As Jean tried to tease Marco and Marco tried to keep himself from reacting, Armin went on with his monologue.

“I think it has to do with the fact that Jean is a Drifter. Drifters are by nature protectors and their kind is one of the oldest that exists. So, what if because of their nature, they needed to be tougher and stronger in order to succeed in protecting the ones around them. If only there were more of them. Surely there would have been someone wiling to let me study them and research their species more in case they go extinct. What if Jean actually dies? All the knowledge of the Drifters dies with him”

Armin’s aura had turned dark for a moment. Both Marco and Jean were looking at Armin worried, Jean even more so than Marco. Jean had even subconsciously moved closer to his body, as if he would be able to protect it from harms way. Not that that was possible in his current situation.

“Next time you come to me like this Jean Kirschtein you better be ready to be forever in my debt. When you wake up, you’re letting me test your abilities and record every legend you know and heard over the years for your ancestors in order to secure your kind’s legacy. Mark my words Jean Kirschtein. I will tie you up in the basement if I need to. And if you dare to turn down my offer, I will make sure to not let you be this comfortable the next time you come to me for help after a fight you know is a gamble of dying or-”

“Armin, that’s enough don’t you think?” A tall brunet walked in the room and her gaze fixed on Marco as soon as she entered. She had piercing gray eyes. As she looked at Marco, Marco got a feeling that she could see right through him. It was as if all it took was a look for the woman to know everything there was to know about him. She was intimidating, someone you didn’t want to anger. Marco searched for Jean’s eyes to comfort himself but surprisingly, Jean had decided it was the right time to disappear.

Armin took a few deep breaths and after calming down, his face changed back to the warm and kind face he had when Marco had first saw him. “Do excuse my, rumbling. Jean does have that effect on people, making them lose control. Marco, this here is Ymir”

Ymir walked closer to Marco, inches away from his face, looking up at him. Even if Marco was taller than her, Ymir seemed like she was the taller one, lurking over him like she owned him. Being that close to her, Marco could see that she also had freckles all over her cheeks. _Why do I get the feeling that if I say something about that she will make me regret it?_

“So, this is the kid Historia was rumbling about. Tsk” Ymir crossed her arms and her gaze darkened. Marco was not sure if he was going to walk out of the room alive.

“Ymir, you’re going to give him a heart attack” Armin tried to get closer and pull her away, but a gaze from Ymir made him stop and look away.

“I am not going to eat him,” She said and she returned her gaze to Marco. “yet”

Marco shivered and swallowed slowly. She gave off a malicious intend for a reason Marco could not understand.

“N-Nice to meet you Ymir, right? I am Marco” He tried offering his hand but Ymir only smirked, showing her fangs. As she did so, her eyes glowed and emitted a red color. Marco almost let out a squeal as he backed away.

“Listen here Marco. If you try anything funny with Historia, you won’t make it through the night alive. Just wanted to be clear”

_Jean? Where the hell are you? She is going to kill me!_

Marco heard only his voice from somewhere in the room. “Believe me buddy, if she senses me near you, you’ll definitely die this time”

 _Oh great… Thanks…_ Marco tried to smile as gently as he could and hide any sign of his fear.

“O-Oh, uh, you don’t have to worry about that. I am actually into guys, so I won’t try anything” Marco laughed softly and wished that that was enough to ease her worries and live through the day. He had survived so far. It would be a pity to die now because of a misunderstanding.

As soon as Marco said that, Ymir’s face changed and her lips stretched into a big dorky smile as she warped her arm around Marco’s neck, bringing him down to her height. “Really? Good grief and here I worried over for nothing. Have you eaten yet? If not, you must be starving!” She started walking towards the staircase and Marco did not dare to mention how uncomfortable he felt being dragged away like this. Armin was following behind them and Marco caught a glimpse of Jean as he revealed himself from under the bed, looking confused.

“A-Are we going to leave Jean all alone? What if he wakes up?” Marco asked and that made Ymir laugh.

“Assholes don’t die that easily. He will be fine. And if he wakes up and wants anything, he can crawl downstairs and help himself out. That piece of shit is going to be just fine! Don’t worry cousin”

Armin laughed with her. He seemed to be amused by Ymir’s behavior. Though Marco wasn’t sure if Armin was laughing because of what she had said or because of the way she was dragging Marco away.

“C-Cousin?”

“We both have freckles, black hair and we’re tall. Both gay too. What more do you want?”

“O-Oh I see, if you put it that way…” Marco didn’t want to spoil her good mood and simply went along with her. _Jean… Help…_

Jean was now standing next to his body looking sympathetically at Marco. “Hang in there buddy”

And just like that, they went down to the kitchen, so Ymir could make sure that Marco had a nice, fulfilling meal.

___________________

Ymir did not hold back now that Marco was not a threat to her. She made sure Marco ate and that he was getting everything he wanted to regain his lost strength. As she had explained it, people like them needed to stick together and look out for each other. Marco could see that she was simply happy because Marco was not a threat to her relationship with Historia. Which Marco confirmed as soon as they entered the kitchen. It was thanks to the deep and long kiss Ymir gave Historia as soon as she entered the kitchen. The sudden kiss made Historia blush like crazy and push Ymir away, Ymir smirking in response to her reaction. That explained why Ymir had acted like she had upstairs. Apparently, she was the incredibly jealous type.

Connie and Historia were sitting on the table, talking about a topic that, as it seemed, they didn’t want Marco to hear. The moment Marco walked in, they stopped talking and hastily wore their best smiles to avoid suspicion. Historia’s smile was bright and charming, almost convincing enough for Marco to believe that they weren’t talking about him. But there was also Connie, whose smile was stupidly weird. It was clear that he was trying to hide something.

After that, Ymir had grabbed Marco by his arm, sat him on the table and offered him the food she had promised him. Marco thought he was not hungry but as soon as the food was placed in front of him, he could not help himself. He started eating and Ymir joined him. In no time, they were competing about who would eat the most. Connie was laughing during the whole competition and had taken it upon himself to be the fair referee of the match.

Once they finished with the food, they all sat at the kitchen talking and getting to know each other more. Jean was there with them. At first it was hard having him in the room while no one else saw him and that was because Jean made it his job to ridicule Connie at every chance he got. He was so good at it that it was torture for Marco to hold back his laughter and hide it from the rest of the group. Jean would mimic Connie’s every voice or move behind him and try to do Connie’s movements as precisely as he could. He would also make faces at Marco whenever the conversation turned serious, tickle him at unexpected times and whisper in his ear when someone talked him. Marco tried hard to concentrate on everyone else but failed most of the time. Jean dared to ridicule Ymir as well after he was done with Connie and when he realized that Ymir could really not see or sense him, he gave it his all.

After a few hours Historia, Ymir, Connie and Armin excused themselves to go and rest. On his way out though, Connie stopped by the door and turned around to face Marco.

“Don’t stay up all night looking after Jean”

That caught Marco by surprise.

“I wasn’t going to”

Connie laughed softly and crossed his arms. “If that’s what you wanna believe, who am I to disagree?” He paused and seemed to debate over something in his thoughts. After a minute, he talked again. “Jean may seem like an asshole most of the time but, he is actually a really good guy. Remember that okay?” He smiled softly at Marco and waved him goodbye. Despite finding it weird that Connie said that to him, he thought it best not to comment on it. _Still, why would he say something like that?_

 “We established the fact that you are an asshole” Marco said when he was certain they were alone and Jean laughed. That laugh was starting to grow on Marco. Whenever Jean laughed, Marco found himself smiling at him unconsciously. A genuine, unconscious smile. It was one of those smiles that you came to notice a few seconds after it appeared, catching you by surprise. And that troubled him. Because he had known Jean for a day now and he was becoming attached to him. He did try to avoid thinking about it though. The last thing he wanted was Jean hearing that part of his thoughts.

“Am I really that bad?”

“I don’t know. I have only known you for a day”

“Oh no Jean! You are not an asshole! You are actually very kind and nice. You saved my life twice, how can you even believe that you’re an asshole?” Jean was trying to mimic Marco’s voice, walking towards him as he did.

“I don’t talk like that” Marco stood up, crossing his arms as he judged Jean for his choice of teasing methods.

“I don’t talk like that” They were standing across of each other, Jean looking into Marco’s eyes as he playfully mocked his words. As they stood like that, Marco noticed for the first time that he was slightly taller than Jean.

“This is ridiculous and you know it”

“I know. But the expressions I get from you are worth the teasing”

Marco’s cheeks flushed pink with the comment. He wouldn’t lie to himself. Jean was handsome. He was funny, witty and he knew how to cheer up Marco which was a big plus. Also, he was exactly Marco’s type. There was only a slight problem. The time they had spent together was really short. He couldn’t give in to his impulses, because the longer Marco looked at those hazel eyes, the more lost he got in them.

Jean leaned closer, his usual smirk taking over his lips. Marco needed to stop himself from leaning down and kissing him. There wasn’t a way for them to actually be together. As soon as Marco returned home, that was the end. So, what was even the point in this, if they were never to see each other again? Marco was the relationship type of guy and he knew this wasn’t going to end up in a relationship. And yet, he felt right being this close to Jean. He felt like this is where he belonged, and it all had happened so fast. It was the first time he was starting to like another person that much and in this short amount of time. It terrified him.

“Hey Marco, I was wondering…” Jean said when they were inches apart.

It was becoming hard for Marco to hold himself back. He did keep himself at bay, but he didn’t think he would hold himself together for much longer. And Jean did not make it easy for him.

“Was what you said to Ymir true? The part about you being into guys”

He thought it wasn’t possible for his cheeks to turn redder. And yet he felt the heat in his cheeks increasing. Marco was certain he was as red as a tomato when he saw Jean’s smirk increasing. “Yes. Why?”

Jean shrugged. “Just curious”

“Now’s not the time for fooling around Jean” a voice interrupted them.

Marco was startled and pushed Jean away, moving away from the spot Jean had cornered him. It took him a minute to process the fact that the voice was not refereeing to him but to Jean. Marco was relieved. If he had to explain what he was doing alone in the kitchen while spacing out to any of the others, he was certain he would die of embarrassment. Once he looked towards the source of the voice, he saw Salem in his cat form, sitting on top of the kitchen’s counter, looking at Jean with a disappointed look on his face. When Marco looked at Jean after pushing him away, Marco saw he was annoyed. He hoped he wasn’t annoyed with him.

“What is it Salem?” Jean said and leaned against the kitchen’s table, looking back at Salem. Marco sat down on one of the chairs where he could see both Jean and Salem. Right now, he didn’t want to get involved. He felt pretty embarrassed by his reaction and had trouble looking at Jean after he had pushed him away.

“I know where you can find him”

Marco glanced at Jean as subtly as he could, searching for a reaction that could explain whether these were good or bad news. He saw Jean’s face drop and Marco could swear he felt a change in Jean’s mood for a split second. Was that sorrow? Had he felt it right? But it only lasted a second before fading to apathy.

“If that’s the case we need to hurry. Marco, get ready. We’re leaving in five minutes”

Jean was not looking at Marco.

“Leaving? And going where?”

“We’re going to pay a visit to a Drifter I think he might be able to help you go back”

___________________

 

The mood between Marco and Jean had changed after Salem interrupted their moment in the kitchen. Jean was quiet didn’t look at Marco, nor talk unless Marco talked first or asked him one of his questions. After five minutes of walking and neither of them talking, Marco felt like he would explode and that this anxiousness that had taken over him would kill him if they kept this up. They would talk about the tension in the air whether Jean liked it or not. But before Marco could say anything, Jean told him to turn right and not talk until he said he could do so. It was more of an order rather than a direction which annoyed Marco deeply. He thought of talking back as a way to retaliate on Jean’s behavior but kept quiet. This wasn’t the place nor the time to react out of spite. Instead, he decided that he wouldn’t talk unless Jean talked to him first. He didn’t even know the reason for the sudden change in Jean’s mood. Back at the house they were just fine. Jean even seemed to suggest that they were more than fine. Was all that just Jean’s way of messing around with Marco’s feelings? Did Jean even feel anything for him or was Marco the only crazy one to fall for a guy he had known for almost a day? Jean must have felt how Marco was attracted to him. Marco wasn’t exactly able to hide it. And when Marco tried looking for Jean’s feelings about him with their new connection, he felt nothing. There wasn’t a single emotion indicating that Jean was in the same situation as Marco. That added to Marco’s irritation. Did Jean think nothing of him? Was he simply a passerby, someone Jean would mess around with while he was around? It just hurt Marco that it was possible that’s what Jean thought of him.

This whole time they were walking out in the open, walking in crowded streets. When Marco followed Jean’s order and turned, he walked into a dark back alley. He didn’t like where this was going. Jean had warned him that where they were going was a dangerous zone, but he didn’t really have a choice. This was his chance at getting back home to his friends and family. That’s what he had wanted. But what did he want now? Truth was that Marco wouldn’t have minded staying a bit longer here in this world. There were so many things he had yet to see, so many cultures, traditions, stories people to study. It was a life-changing opportunity. Could he really give it up and simply return home? If there only was a way to return after assuring everyone that he was perfectly fine and that they didn’t have to worry about him. He would be able to stay longer here with Jean. Jean was one of the reasons wanted to spend more time here and one of the reasons he didn’t feel ready leaving. It was just too little time. Now that he was starting to know more about him, he was going home, and Jean didn’t even talk to him. That, Marco had concluded, was the real reason behind this anxious gut-turning feeling in his stomach.

Jean walked ahead, leading the way and Marco followed right behind him. Another thing that troubled Marco was the fact that they had left in the middle of the night without saying anything to anyone. If they found this Drifter Jean was talking about and Marco returned home like this, he wouldn’t have the chance to thank Connie and the rest of them. He wouldn’t be able to say goodbye.

They walked for about ten minutes more through dark alleyways before Jean stopped suddenly, causing Marco to stumble on Jean’s back.

“What happened-”

Before he could ask Jean what was wrong, he felt his body doing a backflip and landing a few meters backwards and away from the spot he was standing. Confused he looked up ahead and saw a hooded figure with a drawn knife standing where Marco was a few seconds ago. He was getting tired of surprises.

The stranger dashed forward ready to attack Marco once more. At that moment Marco realized that his body was being controlled by someone else and it moved against his will. Instead of turning and running away, Marco’s body avoided at the last second the incoming attack, his cheek getting slashed slightly in the process. Then his hands reached for the knife, took a hold of it and retrieved it as Marco backed away from the stranger once more. He felt another uncontrollable movement coming but this time, he wouldn’t let it happen. He focused hard and managed to keep his body in place.

“Marco, stop resisting!” Jean said and Marco noticed then that Jean was nowhere to be seen and only his voice could be heard inside of Marco’s head.

“Jean?! You’re doing this?!”

“Yes, you moron! Now let me take over before you get killed!”

Marco held himself back. Now was not the time to get angry at Jean.

“You could have told me that you could do something like this” Marco said, not caring that he seemed like a crazy person talking to himself in front of his attacker.

“I am as surprised as you are Bodt. Learning new things everyday”

 The stranger did not seem phased by Marco’s rumblings and attacked again, revealing a second knife in his other hand. Jean blocked the first attack and tried to keep up with the rest that kept coming. Marco was like an observer in his own body. Having Jean fighting with his body was surreal. He was so graceful with each attack, even if their opponent was more skillful, they did keep up with him. One small detail, Marco’s stamina was not built for close knife battle and his body was starting to get tired. They kept at it and Marco felt Jean’s fear rising up. Both of them knew that at that moment, if they didn’t get away from him, Marco would die.

At the next attack though, the stranger managed to break through Jean’s defense and touch Marco’s forehead with his index finger. Marco heard the stranger murmur a few words in that strange language he had heard before from Connie and Jean and as soon as he finished, he was in full control of his body. He stood in his place and turned around to see Jean falling out of his body and slamming on the wall far behind them. All of it happened to fast. The stranger had leaned in his ear, whispering again words that Marco could not understand and then a sudden pain passed through Marco’s body. At first, he didn’t quite understand what had happened. He was just looking at Jean, who screameed something at him as he tried to stand up and run towards Marco. Jean’s eyes were tearing up and Marco felt nothing but Jean’s pain and anger. Was Jean saying that it would be okay? _What will be okay? And why is he looking at my stomach-_ As soon as Marco looked down, he saw it. The stranger’s knife had pierced him through his stomach and blood was gashing out. It was a lot of blood, dark red and covering Marco’s clothes and hands as soon as Marco had attempted to keep the blood from coming out. He must have been in shock because he still could not feel any pain, only incredible weakness. He turned around to look at his attacker that stood close to him and then he saw his face. Those cold gray eyes and that pale white skin as well as the raven black hair was all too familiar. It was _him._ The guy that had send him flying off the cliff. Why was he here and why had he stabbed him? And above all, why did he seem sad about it?

Marco fell on his knees first and then his strength left him, falling face-first on the ground, looking back at Jean for a last time. Jean was starting to fade away and by the time he had reached Marco, only half of his body was visible. Jean tried to lift him up but he wasn’t able to touch him. He was saying something to Marco, but Marco could only hear a continuous buzz in his ear.

Marco tried muttering an _it’s okay, it’s not your fault,_ but he wasn’t certain if the words ever got out or not. He hoped they had. He didn’t want Jean blaming himself for this.

Soon Marco’s vision was fading in and out. He thought he saw a black coated figure standing behind Jean, one of the creatures that had attacked them at Connie’s. Marco saw another one entering his vision from behind him, carrying the raven-haired man in his arms. The one that was behind Marco was slowly approaching him to take him as well. Jean was trying to fight it off, but it was pointless. His attacks passed right through it.

The buzzing in his ear was pierced by Jean’s shouts of his name. _Marco_. Jean’s last words before fading completely were Marco’s name. Marco smiled. At least the last thing he heard was Jean’s voice. Then everything went black.


	4. Will you kiss me one last time?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjooooy the lateeee updaaate!!!! I hope I pass my exams after writing this instead of studying!! Priorities, am I right? :')

Jean’s eyes snapped wide open and his panic jolted him awake. Taking in his surrounding, he saw he had woken up back in the house, his soul having returned to his body at the worst time possible. Marco was in danger. The clock ticked by and every second that passed meant Marco had less and less chances of surviving, of returning home, of being rescued.

And it was Jean’s fault.

Jean tried to sit up by pushing his body up with his arms, every muscle involved in the movement, struggling to comply with Jean’s intentions, barely succeeding a few seconds later as Jean sat on the edge of the bed. Moving his arms and shoulders resulted in his injury sending waves of pain, warnings indicating that, if Jean overdid it, the wound would not be able to remain closed. But Jean didn’t care. He would give his life up if it meant that no one else would die because of him. If giving his life away meant that Marco would live, Jean would gladly accept. Jean pushed his body up and off the bed, managing to stand up for a few seconds before crashing on the floor again, a result of muscle atony caused by the poison of a Reaper’s sword. Under different circumstances, Jean would have needed about a day of warming his muscles up in order to walk normally. But now he couldn’t spare a day. In a day, Marco would be long gone and Jean would never see him again.

_I am running out of time._

Jean needed to concentrate. If his theory was correct, Marco Bodt was a Leaper who had yet to awaken his powers. Moreover, Jean was almost convinced that Marco and he were connected. He couldn’t explain it and he hadn’t had any experience about how this whole Drifter-Leaper connection worked or could be created, but Jean felt it. They both felt it. Marco couldn’t just _happen_ to be the only one that could see and talk to Jean while he was out of his body. It had to mean something more, it just had to. Jean hoped that he was right. Because their connection would be his only chance of saving Marco.

Jean tried pushing his body up once more. His arms shook and the pain on his back was becoming more intense as time passed. He was now fully awake, and he felt everything.

He pushed his body up, sitting on his knees and clasped his hands together.

The words of the spell needed to be precise. A simple mispronunciation and he could set up the whole house on fire. It had been such a long time since he had last needed to use up magic. Connie was right pressing him to restudy the spells that they both had learned at the army. Jean was more of a physical type of guy, relying on his close battle skills to win a battle. Now he was regretting not engaging more with magic as Connie had done. But this would have to be enough.

Jean was trying to perform a teleportation spell. If he remembered it correctly, in order for the transportation spell to be successful, the spirit performing it needed to possess an item from the person they needed to find, or have murals drawn to the place he wished to teleport to. Jean had none. He just hoped that the old stories were true. The stories said that drifters and leapers had the power to teleport to the location of their partner, using only their formed bond for the teleportation spell.

_Please work, please work…_

Jean began casting the spell, hoping that he remembered it correctly. After speaking the first verse, Jean’s body shone a bright orange light and all over his naked torso, murals of the ancient language appeared. The spell was going well. He just had a few more verses to say and concentrate on searching for a sign from Marco. There had to be something. The connection must have been formed and Jean had just not found it yet.  His brother had told him when he was younger that, when he would form a bond with his leaper, he would be able to see a red line emerging from his chest that went on and connected with his partner. But in order for him to see, Jean would have to close his eyes, concentrate and feel Marco’s presence. Jean had to remember how he felt when Marco was near him, how from the first time Jean had seen him, he felt like they had met before. How Jean felt happy every time Marco smiled or laughed with one of his witty remarks. How good it had felt kissing him, even if he had meant for that kiss to be nothing more than a way to take the upper hand over Marco.

Jean focused more on that moment. Marco pinning him underneath him, Jean kissing him and Marco’s cheeks turning red. Jean’s heart lighting up on fire from that simple, playful kiss for a reason he couldn’t explain. Now he knew. Marco was who he was searching for, the one that Jean was convinced he would never meet.

That was when he felt it. He opened his eyes and saw it, the red line extending from his chest. Jean smiled widely and entered the last verse, concentrating his whole attention on the red line and the feeling it gave him. Then the door opened Connie entered the room. His eyes were wide awake. He was terrified.

“Jean! Stop it now! Your body can’t take the toll of crossing over-”

But it was already too late. The room light up by a blinding white light and then Jean disappeared right in front of Connie’s eyes.

______________________  


Connie stood there dumbfounded as it took him a few seconds to process what Jean had just done.

“That fucking piece of….Agh!” Connie run out of Jean’s room and to the opposite room with the green door.

They had all decided that Connie would be the one responsible of looking after Jean in case he woke up and did something stupid. What Connie never even thought of being possible, was Jean attempting a teleportation spell with the severity of the wounds he already had. Jean would be extremely lucky if he managed to reach his destination in one piece. A teleportation spell took a great toll on one’s body. After performing one, the spirit in charge of the spell would need two to four hours of rest before attempting any other spell and that was when one was perfectly healthy. Not when they couldn’t even walk on a straight line.

Connie opened the door to his room and searched around for his spear.

Five minutes prior to witnessing Jean being a fool and casting the spell, Connie had looked around the house looking for Marco. He would have asked Salem, but he was still passed out after their first teleportation here. Connie had looked everywhere and still there was no sign of Marco. Connie had found it strange and decided that Marco had went to Jean’s room. Little did he know that that was not the case at all.

Connie may not have known what exactly happened to Marco but, judging by Marco’s absence from the house and Jean’s red eyes, he figured Jean had done something stupid and involved Marco in one of his plans.

_This time I’ll save your sorry ass and beat the hell out of you Jean. Just you wait._

Connie found his spear under his bed and soon returned to Jean’s room, searching for something that belonged to him. He found his white t-shirt laying on the drawer next to the bed. That would do.

He stood in the middle of the room, clasped his hands together and concentrated, trying to focus on Jean. He started the spell.

Ymir appeared then at the door, looking towards him but not at him. Her eyes were completely white, and her hair was floating in the air besides her head. Connie would have been worried if he hadn’t seen it before. Ymir possessed psychic abilities, meaning that she often had visions about things that were to come. This was what Ymir became when a vision was revealed to her. And it never was good news.

“In foreign lands where you will seem to have lost all hope, you’ll find salvation in a pair of golden eyes”

Ymir’s head twitched to the right and she took a step forwards, her eyes looking straight at Connie.

“Brothers lost will be reunited, lovers quarrel will be ignited”

She smiled widely and giggled as she continued.

“He doesn’t know that to forgive is his only hope. Little birds think they’re free, but their vengeance locks them deep”

She paused.

 “Protect your friend, or he will have an awful end”

And she began laughing hysterically, her body hovering slightly off the ground. Connie did not like this at all. These visions were tricky but always came true. He had to find Jean and help him or else, he didn’t want to know what the future would have in stock for them. And just like that, Connie disappeared too.

______________________

  
Marco’s head felt like it would explode. It was the type of headache you got after a long night of heavy drinking. Nauseous, tired, the room spinning around him, his eyesight adjusting slowly to the dark room he woke up in, his hands sore. But above all he felt lost. Where was he this time? Why wasn’t he feeling any pain? He was stabbed. He should have been dead, not alive in yet another unfamiliar place and not alone. It was all too much. Why did he keep ending up in situations like these all the time? What did he do to deserve this kind of treatment? He just wanted to go home. For the first time in days, Marco did not care about anything else other than going home.

Once his eyes began adjusting to the lighting of the room he woke up in, he realized that he was in fact in a cell, his arms tied above his head with his hand in a pair of chains. Now he understood why his hands felt sore. Being unconscious, his weight  was supported by his hands. Marco stood up straight, relieving his hands off their struggle. He looked up and saw that his wrists were bruised. Also, being fully awake now, the bruises began to hurt. _Why is this happening to me?!_  In addition to all that was happening, Marco Bodt was not as alone as he initially believed. On the wall on his right there was another person, held captive in chains just like Marco was. Their only difference was that this other person had lifted his weight up while holding on the chains with his hands and trying to somehow get freed off of his restrains. Now paying close attention to him, Marco saw that this person was no other than the one who had gotten him involved in the first place.

“It’s you!”

The silky, black-haired man was startled. He had not expected Marco to be up this soon.

“Keep your voice down” he said and went back to his work.

Marco did lower his voice to a whisper but that did not stop him from expressing his dissatisfaction with everything that man had brought upon him. “Keep my voice down?! Really?! Is this the first thing you say to me after everything you’ve put me through?! Not even an apology for throwing me off a cliff?!”

The man rolled his eyes but did not stop to look at Marco. He simply went on with trying to unlock the chains as he replied to him. “Believe me, if I knew you would stumble upon that troublemaker, I would have sent you off elsewhere”

“S-sent me off elsewh- ARE YOU BEING SERIOUS RIGHT NOW?!”

The man signaled Marco to stop talking as he looked towards the corridor outside of their cell. He cursed underneath his breath and then looked back at Marco, his eyes dead serious. “Shut your fucking mouth! You’ll alert the fucking guards!”

_This is not actually happening._

Nevertheless, Marco did start whispering again.

“Excuse me for getting upset because someone threw me off a fucking _cliff,_ without giving me any _explanations!”_

The man sighed. “Okay, fine. Let’s make a deal. If you can stop talking for five minutes, I promise I will explain everything”

Marco tried to calm himself down. No matter how much he wanted to scream at this man, he knew it wasn’t going to help. He also knew that all this frustration he was feeling, wasn’t just coming from wanting to know why he had ended up in this world. There was Marie and Reiner, who Marco missed deeply and wanted to see, his parents worrying sick because he was missing for days now and Jean. Jean had watched him get stabbed and taken away right in front of his eyes. He would blame himself for it and Marco did not want him to. But now that he thought about it, the stab wound, why had it vanished?

“Wait... I remember you stabbing me. Why am I not dead?”

“For the love of- ” The man sighed. “You just can’t not talk for a few minutes, can you Bodt?”

A clipping sound echoed in their cell and the man jumped back on the ground, free of his restrains. He walked up to Marco, lifting his hand upwards and aiming it at Marco’s chains. A purple aura appeared around the man’s body and the chains. After muttering a few words, a second clipping sound echoed in the room and Marco was free. “The knife wound was the result of an illusion spell. Seeing you are not surprised or near the verge of passing out, I assume you are familiar with magic”

Marco rubbed his wrists, feeling nice to be able to freely move them, hurting at the same time he touched the bruise.

“I’ll admit, this isn’t the first time I’m seeing this kind of thing happening”

“Good. This saves us time”

The man walked towards the bars, repeating the spell he had done for the chains and getting the cell door to open.

“Follow me and don’t make the slightest sound”

“Wait, you know my name, at least  I deserve to know yours”

“Name’s Levi, now let’s go”

Levi walked ahead and Marco followed behind him, keeping his thoughts to himself until the other said they were safe. Marco wasn’t stupid enough to go rumbling on him. The fact that they both were held as prisoners meant that someone had put them there and that that someone did not want them to walk freely on wherever this place was. And if someone, or rather _when_ someone found out they had escaped, Marco knew there would be severe consequences.

They walked ahead, taking turn after turn, passing corridor after corridor and everything seemed to go well. There had been a few instances where they almost got caught by a guard or two but Levi seemed to know where each guard was, hiding at the last minute from them. After a while, they reached at a dead end. Behind them Marco could hear footsteps and a chatter between two guards becoming louder and louder.

“Levi-”

“I know”

Levi closed his eyes and pressed his palm against the wall in front of him and said one phrase. Soon after that, a rune of a door appeared in front of them, lit in purple and soon a part of the wall in the shape of the door disappeared. The voices were getting closer. What if they turned around the corner and saw a hole on the wall? They would know that something was wrong and they would follow them. But before Marco could speak his thoughts, Levi pulled him along, walking inside of the door, never looking back. Marco did though and once he had, he saw the opening behind them reclosing. They were safe.

After that Levi had found a torch and lit it up, illuminating their way as they walked ahead on the secret corridor. Levi seemed confident as to where he was going. Now that Marco thought about it, Levi seemed to know too well the place they had ended up into.

“Levi, you know where we are, don’t you? You know this place. Too well if you’re walking this leisurely in a secret corridor”

Levi sighed and gave Marco a look before looking ahead again.

“Kirschtein didn’t tell you anything about who he is, did he?”

Marco furrowed his brows.

“He did tell me about the war and how he had participated in it. As well as the fact that he was a Drifter”

“So, nothing about who exactly he was during the war or why he is hiding now or from who?”

Marco sighed.  “No. He didn’t seem comfortable talking about it”

“If you want to know who I am, you will find out who Jean is as well. Because we were working together”

Levi paused, thinking about how to begin his story.

“We are currently in the Royal Palace of Capital City, in one of its many secret passageways my ancestors build in order for the royal family to hide or quickly evacuate in case of an emergency. I am the only one who knows about these secrets hidden all over the palace, which explains why I am so familiar with what route to take”

“Royal family?”

“The Reiss Family. The ones that succeeded in uniting Sina. When this world was created, every spirit roamed free, existing peacefully and in union with the way of the world. But unfortunately, that did not last for long. There was a family of spirits that did not seem satisfied with the way things were. They wanted more. They were thirsty for power. They were known as the Marleys. Slowly but gradually they began gaining power over other spirits, having found out how to control and manipulate the population and in no time the first monarchy was created. The first rulers of our world as well as the first Tyrants. Those were dark times. Spirits were killed for not following orders from the Marley Family, those who dared to resist them were hunted down and killed, whole villages and towns were burned if the Marleys even suspected that there was a revolution taking place. I wasn’t yet born at that time, so I didn’t witness it at first hand but my family made sure I knew where we were coming from and how we came to be. Because you see, at that time, there were four other families that decided to resist the oppression of the Marley family. The Reiss Family, the Ackermans, a family of assassins, The Smiths, a human family of generals and the Kirschteins, a family of explorers. The Reiss family and in particular Reiss I, took it upon himself to find and unite the four families in order to create the Revolutionary Army. Together they fought the Marleys and managed to overthrow them. The land was free at last and since Reiss was the one to initiate the movement and free the people, he was crowned King of Sina. And ever since then, the Reiss family had been ruling Sina. The other three families became the King’s allies and the first-born sons’ duty, for each generation, was to protect and be of help to the Reiss Family in order for peace to remain. Then the war with the humans came. At that time Jean Kirschtein, Erwin Smith and myself were the three generals of the Reiss Family, with Jean being the youngest. He was the youngest general to ever take command after, unfortunately, his father was assassinated during an expedition to the outer villages of the empire during the war. The war had a big effect on Jean. He still has nightmares about the things he was forced to do during that time. He and his sister were also the only ones that made it through the war alive. His family was all killed. After the war ended, we three proceeded with our duty, protecting and helping King Reiss V, our friend, maintain peace throughout Sina. But things took an unexpected turn. During the war, there was a man that had gotten close to Reiss because his experience in war from the human realm, made him a strong asset to the Reiss family. He was the one that suggested to the King that our only hope of winning the war, was to close the gateways between the two worlds. It was indeed what made us win the war and the King saw it fitting to make him the fourth general of the nation. And so, Zeke Jaeger became a part of the King’s counselors as well”

Levi sighed.

“I never trusted that guy. And I should have killed him when I realized what he was actually after but, it was already too late. One year ago, and after years of him being loyal to the family, Zeke Jaeger assassinated King Reiss V, as well as every member of Reiss family, pinning the blame on Jean, Erwin and me. Me and Jean managed to escape and have been wanted since then. That is why Jean is hiding. And the reason I am here is because Erwin never made it out and I need to find him. We left one of our own behind and I need to know whether he is alive or not”

“That doesn’t explain why I am here” Marco interrupted, trying hard not to get all emotional on Levi. Jean had gone through so much and Marco didn’t know. Misfortune after misfortune and still, in all of his problems he saved Marco’s life twice, he almost died because of him and he tried to help him go back home. And Marco had thought that his life was hard. How stupid he was. So, he tried focusing on the reason why he was here. That way he would hold on for a little longer and not cry in front of Levi or think of how much he wanted to hug Jean and tell him that it would be okay.

“About ten years ago, a man appeared in Sina. He didn’t seem to have any idea of who he was or why he had ended up here. He stumbled upon the Kirschteins and they took him in. Or more like Jean’s sister Ines had found her leaper, falling in love with him and she was his new home. Since he couldn’t recall his name, Ines called him Keene, a name meaning the person called that was tall, handsome and sharp, all of which were true about Keene. Ines always came to the palace, bringing food for everyone, looking after her baby brother and Keene came along as well. He was an outgoing person who always smiled and soon enough he became friends with all of us. He seemed to be around the same age as me, Reiss and Erwin so we got close. But a few weeks before the assassination of the King, Keene was acting strange. He was more distant and rarely came over to the palace to visit. Ines was worried sick about him and so was Jean. Ines stayed with him at home after a while and she stopped coming to the palace as well. One day, I decided to go visit them. He seemed to have lost it, muttering to himself, talking like someone was in the room with him when he was all alone. Ines tried to put up a brave face in front of me but I could see this had gotten to her. She had lost her smile and her eyes were red from crying. So, I tried to talk to Keene and find out what was going on inside of his head but before I could do so, he grabbed me by my arms, seeming as if he was himself again for a few minutes. And he told me, _Marco Bodt! He can save us! I know he can. Find him Levi! He will wake us up! He can, only he can wake us up..._ I didn’t know what he meant by that and after those words he went back to muttering nonsense about voices that wouldn’t stop talking to him. I left and returned to the palace. That night, the assassination took place and I took Jean and escaped through the secret corridors of the palace.  We rushed to his sister, to take her and Keene with us because Jean feared that Zeke would go after her and take her captive. But when we reached the house, I wished I had never left Ines alone with Keene. He was standing there, sword in his hand and Ines’s dead body underneath him, blood dripping off the sword. When he looked up at us, his expression showed no emotion and his eyes were empty. He was something else and not the Keene we had known. I managed to get Jean to leave that day because if we had stayed, Jean would have died there with his sister. Since that day Keene became known as Dirtyhands, Zeke’s loyal dog, who has him do any dirty work he needs done. Assassinations, tortures, anything that comes to your mind. So, I trusted Keene’s words and looked for you everywhere. I even risked coming to the human realm and lucky enough, I found a friend of mine who lead me to you. And that sums up the whole story _”_

Marco had stopped walking after hearing all that and he no longer could hold back his tears. He imagined the pain Jean went through and he thought he could feel it still. No, he had felt it without knowing it, without realizing what it was. It had been faint to Marco since he hadn’t known where to look but remembering it now, it was there all along. Buried deep inside of Jean. The hatred, the anger, the grief. All of it there hidden from the rest of the world.

“Jean is stronger than you think. But he is also completely lost right now. All he can think of is revenge against both Zeke and Dirtyhands. I think I can see why Keene had said to find you. You can be his salvation Marco. From what I saw, he seems to let go of his dark side around you. And if he does, he has a chance of defeating them both. But only if he leaves his hatred behind. He is our only hope and so is you. When you find him, don’t let go”

Marco nodded wiping his tears only for news ones to take over. At that moment Levi stopped right in the middle of the corridor, looking from his chest up to the wall in front of him. He placed his hand on the wall and just like before, a part of the wall disappeared and they walked out. They ended up in another cell as it appeared, bigger than the one they were in. In the center of the room there was a body of a blond man hanging by his hands chained to the ceiling.  His whole body covered in bruises, cuts and burns, big and small, some old, some new and underneath him there was a small pool of blood. At the sight of him, Levi dropped the torch and rushed to free him off his restrains. He didn’t lose any time in doing so. The man’s chains opened and the blond man fell on Levi’s arms, who kneeled down on top of the pool of blood in order to catch him.

“Shit... Erwin.... What did those bastards do to you?!” Levi didn’t notice that he was crying. Anger was written all over his face as he tried to heal whatever wound he could heal.

At first Erwin seemed to be struggling to regain consciousness, his eyes opening and closing again. After managing to open his eyes, he seemed to not believe what he was seeing.

“Levi? Why are you here?”

“Erwin don’t talk. I am taking you out of here” Levi tried motioned to Marco and come and lift him up. Marco hurried to help and together they had lifted him up. Erwin groaned as they did, his wounds causing his pain.

“No Levi, you don’t understand, you have to leave” Erwin said. “It’s a trap”

As soon as Erwin said it, Levi began casting a spell but something got to him first. He was thrown back, hitting on the wall behind him as if an invisible force made him fly back. After that Erwin began elevating off of the ground, gasping for air. It seemed like an invisible hand held him up on the air, straggling him. In seconds he was thrown back as well, hitting the wall and groaning louder.

That was when Marco saw him. Pale blond hair and hazel empty eyes looking down at him indifferently. “So, you are the Bodt kid Dirtyhands kept talking about. Yes, I see it now”

The man reached out and caught Marco by his neck, lifting him up slowly and clenching his fist around Marco’s neck. Marco could not breathe and soon his feet did not touch the ground. He was struggling to fight back, do something to make this man release him but he couldn’t do anything. “Don’t be scared. I know it might seem scary at first but, dying isn’t really that bad”

Marco’s eyes widened and he desperately tried to escape this man’s grip. He didn’t want to die. Not like this. Not now. He still had so much to do.

“ZEKE” Levi appeared from behind them and two short swords appeared on his hands, slicing off Zeke’s hand and releasing Marco from his grip. Marco fell on the ground, coughing and fighting to regaining his breathing.

Zeke seemed unphased by the missing arm and turned around to face Levi. “I will deal with you later, Marco” He walked towards Levi his hand re-growing as he reached him. “Levi, is this how you treat an old friend?”

Levi did not waste any time. He attacked Zeke, who dodged attack after attack with ease. It was like they were dancing in front of Marco’s eyes, their moves smooth and delicate, even if they were fighting.

Zeke smiled and at one of Levi’s attacks, he managed to catch Levi’s hand between his arms tight and with a quick movement, break Levi’s arm. The crack echoed loudly in the room and Levi let out a scream but he did not waste any time. With his other free hand, he brought up his knife, which was omitting an intense purple color, casting a spell as he did, and slamming the knife inside of Zeke’s left eye. Zeke screamed in pain, releasing Levi who stumbled backwards before regaining his balance. Levi was holding his arms close, trying to hold back the pain and searching for an opportunity to attack again.

“You’ll fucking pay for this Levi” Zeke held one hand up to his bloodied eye and smiled as with the other he summoned his sword which floated in the air next to him. “I hope you did have time to say your goodbyes”

Levi’s eyes widened and he immediately began running towards the spot where Erwin was struggling to breathe. Erwin wouldn’t be quick enough to dodge the attack. Not in his current state. The sword moved on its own and was aimed directly at Erwin’s chest.

At that moment, time seemed to slow down for Marco and he didn’t even think before he rushed to his feet and stood in front of Erwin, extending his arms to prevent the sword from piercing Erwin. Something in Marco told him that he was doing the right thing. So, he closed his eyes and waited for the sword to reach him. But at that moment a light shone bright in front of him, blinding everyone in the room. Once the light had dimmed down, a figure stood in front of Marco, having stopped the sword’s attack right in front of the palm of his hand.

“I see that you are alive and well, Freckles. You had me worried sick”

Marco opened his eyes and he saw Jean standing in front of him, a yellow aura surrounding him and making his hair float slightly. Everyone froze in their place and Zeke seemed furious with how things had played out.

“Kirschtein, pray to any God you seem fit you don’t fall on my hands alive”

“Oh? Is that supposed to scare me off? I am deeply disappoi-”

A second light appearing from above revealed an angry Connie flying on top of Jean and causing him to fall back on top of Marco, with Connie landing on top of the two of them, making a pile of discomfort for Marco.

“YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING IDIOT YOU’RE DEAD” Connie shouted as soon as he got his hands on Jean, shaking him back and forth while doing so.

“Connie?! You followed me here and I am the idiot?! Clearly you should do some re-evaluation on the idea you have of yourself”

Marco was in a state of shock, not knowing how to react but, as soon as those two fell on top of him, ignoring the fact that they were fighting on top of him, he began getting annoyed. “You two this is not the time-”

“Huh?! ME?! You were the one that ran off in the middle of the night after coming back from a fucking coma!”

“What I do is none of your business! I am an adult and I am going to do whatever the hell I want!”

Zeke’s attention was focused on the fight taking place in front of him and slowly he was starting to get annoyed. Meanwhile, Levi had sneaked around Zeke, reaching Erwin who was trying to remain as silent as he could in order to regain some of his power in case he needed to fight.

“Get off of me” Marco whispered but Connie and Jean kept fighting with each other.

Zeke let out a sigh and summoned his sword back, getting ready for another attack, this time, aiming it at Connie and Jean. Marco was slowly getting more and more annoyed as he struggled to make them get off of him or make them notice him but it was all in vain.

“Too bad. And I had high expectations of you Jean” Zeke said and motioned his hand towards them and the sword followed the direction.

The two stopped at that moment, looking over at the sword, dead serious and with a slight smirk on their faces as they got ready to dodge the attack. But Marco had enough of all of this happening on top of him. All of his frustration that had built up until now from everything that had happened to him, to Jean, to Erwin, to Levi, to Connie. He could no longer bottle up his emotions and he burst out shouting.

“I said, GET OFF OF ME YOU MORONS” Both Jean and Connie were thrown away by a sudden strong wind that surrounded Marco. Finally, free of the burden on top of him, Marco managed to stand up and dust off his clothes. Marco’s whole body was illuminating an orange aura and his hair changed from black to white as he was muttering words to himself. “At the most inappropriate time.... You decided to fight and ignore everything that goes on around you... Just ugh!!! Unbelievable”

Jean turned around looking over at where Marco was standing, taken aback about what had just happened in front of him. Marco was glowing and that white hair, was it weird for him to say that he did like the white hair as well? But as he noticed that the sword was aimed towards Marco, Jean’s face paled and he rushed to reach Marco in time. All of this would have been for nothing if Marco was killed in the end by Zeke. “Marco, no!”

Marco looked up in front of him, made an annoyed expression at the sword that was only a few meters in front of him and moved to the side, elegantly avoiding the incoming attack. The sword was moving fast but Marco dodged it even faster. Both Jean’s and Connie’s jaws dropped. Levi was smiling widely along with Erwin and Zeke’s eyes widened. None of them could have predicted that Marco’s powers would be awaken at this very moment and Marco didn’t even seem to realize what he was actually doing. He looked Zeke straight in the eye, the annoyance clear in Marco’s eyes, and extended his hand in front of Zeke.

“Tsk, the hell you’re looking at?!” and just like that, Zeke was thrown backwards, smashing through the wall behind him, hitting wall after wall until none of them could see him anymore. As soon as that was done, the aura surrounding Marco ceased and his hair turned from white back to black and then, silence.

“Wait... What did I just do?” Marco said only to get interrupted by a glowing Jean rushing to him and hugging him tightly as he laughed his heart out.

“You bought us time Marco! Ugh, you incredible, beautiful, freckled wonder!” Jean released Marco from his arms and then held Marco’s face in his hands. Not wasting any more time, Jean leaned in and kissed Marco deeply.

As soon as Jean’s lips met his, Marco melted into the kiss, kissing back and returning the gesture. Jean was smirking through the kiss and Marco blushed as he pulled away to see the look on Jean’s face. Jean seemed to be happy, the smile never leaving his face.

“Jean, how much time do you have before your power boost fades?” Connie said and sighed on the thought of what was coming for them. “Zeke won’t stay down for long” Connie walked next to Marco, dusting off his clothes and giving Marco a look of acknowledgment.

“I have five more minutes”

“Five more minutes before what?”

Connie sighed more deeply. “Five more minutes before falling unconscious. His body was not ready for performing a teleportation spell, not to mention a power boost spell. He has put so much strain on his body that now, once the spell wares off, he will have drained all of his energy up. At least the boost healed your back wound. That is something” He did a few spins with his spear, testing his reflexes and getting ready for battle.

“Jean, we have to get out of-” Marco said.

Jean shook his head. “Trust me Marco, everything will be alright”

Jean turned his attention to Levi and Erwin, his hands dropping from Marco’s face.

“Levi, get Erwin and get out of here through your secret passageways”

Erwin had regained his strength and helped Levi up. Levi nodded and turned around to open the door. “Jean, don’t do anything stupid” Erwin said before stepping inside the door.

Jean laughed and shook his head. “You know me Erwin, always making the wrong choices”

“Just don’t die” Levi added and the two of them vanished behind the wall that formed back together.

At that moment, Zeke’s screamed echoed to the cell they were in.

“He is coming” Connie said and got ready to fight.

Marco was watching Jean though. That look on his eyes, he had seen it before. He had the same sorrowful look when he said he had found the Drifter that would help Marco get back home. And then it all made sense. Jean had never gotten angry with Marco. He just didn’t want to accept the fact that Marco was leaving. That what they had, had to come to an end. Jean Kirschtein had accepted that he would live a life without Marco and it killed him inside. That decision also made Marco’s heart sink. Because Jean was planning to leave himself behind once again. When the two of them looked at each other Marco knew what Jean was going to do.

“No. You can’t decide this on your own! I have a say-”

And Jean kissed him softly. It was one last kiss. Jean’s way of saying goodbye to Marco. As they shared their last kiss, Marco’s eyes teared up and his hands refused to let go off Jean. Behind Marco and Connie, a hole appeared on the wall with swirling white and silver colors fading away into a swirling hole. Connie turned to look and before he could get out of the way, Jean kicked him inside. Connie’s eyes widened and he shouted Jean’s name one last time before disappearing in the hole. Then, Jean pushed Marco away, breaking their kiss with a smile and tears in his eyes. Marco lost his balance and fell backwards, Jean’s strength overcoming his. This couldn’t have been the end. Marco would not allow Jean to sacrifice himself in order for them to stay alive. It was stupid and egoistic of Jean to decide on his own what was best for Marco without even discussing it. And at that moment, as he saw Jean getting further and further away and the hole gradually closing, Marco extended his hand towards Jean and shouted three words.

_Dara ne simta._

And Jean was pulled backwards in the hole and the hole closed with an angry Zeke not reaching Jean on time. Jean turned around and saw Marco and locked eyes with him, the shock in his eyes clear. The aura around his body vanished and Jean’s eyes closed. He had passed out inside this wormhole like hole and Marco began to panic. He repeated the phrase and Jean’s body was jerked towards him, Marco managing to catch him on time and warp his arms around him. He may not have known how he knew those words or what was going to happen to them but, at least, they would be together.


End file.
